Media clips

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• Jeb Bush’s ‘Longer Hours’ Remark Will Haunt Him

  In fact, a study released this year from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found worker productivity rose 74% between 1973 and 2013, while wages were only up 9%. In other words, Americans were indeed doing more work with scant increase to their compensation. And among the top earners—the 1%—incomes were up 138% since 1980, while the bottom 90% of workers saw wages rise just 15%.

  Time Magazine July 10, 2015
• Is productivity the problem? Or is it wage stagnation?

  But while Jeb has explained he was talking about part-time work, here’s the macroeconomic problem with his quote from yesterday: The U.S. workforce has been plenty productive, but wages haven’t kept up. The Atlantic: “Though productivity (defined as the output of goods and services per hours worked) grew by about 74 percent between 1973 and 2013, compensation for workers grew at a much slower rate of only 9 percent during the same time period, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute.”

  NBC News July 10, 2015
• Turns out Americans work really hard…but some want to work harder

  Analysis done by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank, shows productivity growing 240% between 1948 and 2013, while wages of non-supervisory workers grew only 108% during the same period. There has been little gain in real wages of those workers since 1978.

  CNN Money July 10, 2015
• Fact-checking Jeb Bush: If Americans work more hours, economy will grow

  The unemployment rate has dropped to 5.3%, but there are still 8.3 million unemployed Americans and about 3.3 million “missing workers”. Missing workers are people who have stopped looking for work because they have given up hope of finding it. If these missing workers were counted, the unemployment rate would be closer to 7.3%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Guardian July 10, 2015
• Hillary subtweets Jeb on worker comment

  Hillary Clinton slammed Jeb Bush late Wednesday for remarking that “people should work longer hours” during his meeting with The Union Leader in New Hampshire — though not by name. In a tweet, Clinton shared a graph from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute showing wages stagnating as productivity has risen over the last four decades.

  Politico July 9, 2015
• New HUD rules aim to ease segregation in housing

  Both skeptics and supporters alike acknowledge that they are waiting to see how vigorously HUD enforces these rules to determine how significant their impact will be. “In my view, it’s a very modest first step because there’s no content in these rules about what HUD is going to do if jurisdictions don’t do something to desegregate,” Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, said ahead of Wednesday’s announcement.

  Los Angeles Times July 9, 2015
• Whose Party Is It Anyway?

  The pro-labor Economic Policy Institute contends that from 2001 to 2013, trade with China resulted in the loss of 3.2 million American jobs, 2.4 million of them in manufacturing, particularly in information technology and electronics. Academic research has found similar, though not quite as high, numbers of job losses, with ranges from 2.0 to 2.4 million (using the years 1999 to 2011).

  Josh Bivens, the research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, put his finger on the problem for unions that expanding trade between China and the United States poses. While acknowledging some of the benefits of free trade, Bivens points out the danger of the global expansion of competition: Reducing trade barriers allows each to specialize in what they do more efficiently, and this specialization generally leads to national-level gains for both countries — that is, increased efficiency, worldwide production and total consumption. This is essentially chapter one in trade textbooks. However, a later chapter in the textbook points out that, when the United States exports financial services and aircraft while importing apparel and electronics, it is implicitly exchanging the services of capital for labor. This exchange bids up capital’s price — profits and high-end salaries — and bids down wages for the broad working and middle class, leading to rising inequality and wage pressure for many Americans.
  
  According to Bivens, the downside is immense: Even if trade flows begin to balance and there is less job loss in the future, the integration of the U.S. economy with those of its low-wage trading partners will pull down wages for many American workers, and will contribute to the ever rising inequality of incomes in the U.S. economy.

  The employment declines resulting from China trade have been analyzed in several papers by David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson, economists at M.I.T., the University of Zurich, and the University of California, San Diego, respectively; a National Bureau of Economic Research paper, “The Surprisingly Swift Decline of U.S. Manufacturing Employment,” by Justin R. Pierce of the Federal Reserve Board and Peter K. Schott of the Yale School of Management; and by Robert E. Scott, the director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy at the Economic Policy Institute, who worked with Will Kimball, a research assistant.

  The New York Times July 8, 2015
• US job openings stay high, but actual hiring falters in May

  The rate of workers quitting remains 9.2 percent lower than it was in 2007, shortly before the Great Recession started, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.

  Associated Press July 8, 2015
• Want more customers? Lower your CEO’s pay.

  On June 22, The Wall Street Journal published a piece with the headline, “Top CEO Pay Isn’t Driven by Talent,” citing a study by the Economic Policy Institute. The Journal quotes the study’s authors, saying “The growth of CEO and executive compensation overall was a major factor driving the doubling of the income shares [i.e. the share of total income] of the top 1% and top 0.1% of U.S. households from 1979 to 2007.”

  Fortune July 8, 2015
• Buybacks and Dividends Are Making CEOs Even Richer

  Average CEO compensation for the top 350 U.S. firms by revenue has climbed to $16.3 million last year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. That’s up from $15.7 million in 2013.

  Bloomberg July 7, 2015
• EPI Economist Explains the Importance of President Obama’s Overtime Rules and How They Can Benefit You

  Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute joins Rick to talk about President Obama’s recent directive to the Department of Labor to fix the abusive management loophole and give workers back their overtime protection

  The Rick Smith Show July 7, 2015
• Editorial: The laborer is worthy of his hire. And his overtime

  A study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute estimates that currently, only about 8 percent of salaried workers qualify for overtime. When the law was written in 1975, it covered about half of salaried workers.

  St. Louis Post Dispatch July 7, 2015
• OSHA’s silica regulations will save construction workers’ lives

  How can The Hill run an op-ed about an OSHA standard that never once mentions the fact that the substance the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is regulating — silica — kills or cripples thousands of workers every year?  Pamela Volm, the national chair of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), is obviously concerned about only one thing: the profit margin for her business and others like hers (“Regulatory reform that works for the ‘real world’ of construction,” June 24). The workers’ lives are their own problem — not hers. The closest Ms. Volm gets to addressing the hazards of breathing in silica dust all day while drilling, cutting or grinding rock, pouring sand, making bricks or doing dozens of other tasks that involve prolonged exposure is the following: “Silica is a naturally occurring substance found in sand, quartz and many construction materials including asphalt, bricks, concrete, stone and tile.” So, it’s natural! Why is OSHA bothering businesses with rules and new costs?

  The Hill July 7, 2015
• Greece cues big government debate

  FBN’s Gerri Willi, Charles Payne and David Asman and Christian Dorsey of the Economic Policy Institute and ‘Demographic Cliff’ author Harry Dent discuss the Greek debt problems.

  Fox Business July 7, 2015
• The Democrats’ Fractured Views on Trade

  A 2013 paper by Mr. Autor and two other scholars concluded that a quarter of the decline in manufacturing employment between 1990 and 2007 could be explained by a surge of imports from China. And Josh Bivens, the research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, estimated that increased trade with developing nations lowered wages by 5.5 percent for workers without college degrees.

  The New York Times July 6, 2015
• Members of Congress push minimum wage hike but don’t pay their interns

  Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, also said lawmakers should pay congressional interns, but he called the study a “distraction” from the need to raise the minimum wage for workers who are mostly adults. “The vast majority of minimum wage workers are adults and many of them have children, and that’s very different from the interns that work on Capitol Hill, by and large,” he said.

  USA Today July 6, 2015
• More Time, More Money

  On this Fourth of July, we gather with friends and family around barbeques and picnic tables across the country to celebrate the American patriots who built this country. But as many of us enjoy a well-deserved day off, millions of low- and middle-income workers are being required to work on a federal holiday without any sort of overtime compensation. This is the result of outdated overtime rules that cover fewer and fewer salaried workers each year. Most people don’t know that many salaried workers, not just employees paid by the hour, are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The rules are complicated if you earn more than $23,660 a year, but below that threshold, it’s simple: You’re entitled to time-and-a-half pay for every hour past 40 in a week.

  US News and World Report July 6, 2015
• Jobs report in 4 charts: who’s working, who’s not

  Teens looking for a summer job may have a slightly better outlook than last year, but there are a lot of “missing workers” in prime-age range of 25 to 54, says Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. She says these are potential workers who, because of weak job opportunities, are neither employed nor seeking a job. Gould believes the fact that over two-thirds of missing workers are prime age is a “sign that economy is not that strong, and they don’t see a place for themselves in it right now.”

  Marketplace July 6, 2015
• Analysis: For Fed, a muddled jobs report even as U.S. employment continues to expand

  Alongside the modest June job growth, what were considered strong reports in April and May were revised lower. “It is clear that the economy is continuing to leave workers high and dry,” said Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute. “It is more than obvious that the Federal Reserve needs to stay the course.”

  Reuters July 6, 2015
• The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why.

  Although industry groups argue that this will impose undue burdens on employers and could drive down base wages, advocates say that overall, the rule would discourage the exploitation of lower-level managers and would benefit workers. According to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, “Salaried people who are currently working overtime will work fewer hours. Their hours will be shifted to hourly workers, paid less, who need the work. It’s a win win for the workforce.”

  The Nation July 6, 2015
• Jobless rate at lowest level since ’08

  The report stated job gains were 223,000 in June, but also revised the April job gains from 221,000 down to 187,000 and the May gains from 280,000 to 254,000. “It’s clear that the economy is continuing to leave workers high and dry,” said Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based economic research organization.

  Pittsburgh Post Gazette July 6, 2015
• How Obama’s Overtime Plan Affects Workers
  Huffington Post Live July 2, 2015
• Boosting Overtime: Obama Calls For Broader Coverage
  Associated Press July 2, 2015
• Obama Making Millions More Americans Eligible for Overtime

  The momentum for the rule change increased after Mr. Bernstein and a colleague, Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, wrote their report in late 2013, one of a number of papers the Labor Department commissioned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

  The New York Times July 2, 2015
• If you make less than $50,440, proposal could increase overtime pay

  While just 8 percent of salaried workers fall below the current threshold, the new rules would increase the share to 44 percent, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which published an influential report last year recommending raising the salary threshold to $50,440. That level is indexed to inflation based on the 1975 salary threshold for overtime pay, when 62 percent of workers were covered by overtime protections.

  The Chicago Tribune July 2, 2015
• How the Federal Reserve Could Help Give You a Raise

  But the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank whose economists like to focus on broader public concerns, has asked the Fed quite a different question. When will wages start rising for working people?

  “It’s really unbelievable,” said Josh Bivens, an EPI macroeconomist. “The economy and the labor market are still too soft to be thinking about raising interest rates. We are six years after the recovery and we still have labor market slack and we are still almost nowhere on wages. At the moment, we are still on a path that really doesn’t look like a sustainable economy.”

  The Nation July 2, 2015
• Minimum wage increasing for 53,000 Marylanders as new laws take effect

  This is the second time this year the minimum wage has increased. In January, the wage jumped from $7.25 an hour to $8, generating an estimated $84 million in increased wages for workers and $55 million in consumer spending, according to Economic Policy Institute research data.

  Baltimore Sun July 2, 2015
• CEO Pay Continues To Rise, Widening Wealth Gap. Cubicle Dweller Pay Barely Budges

  American CEOs are earning compensation packages that are more than ten times greater than they were three decades ago, according to a paper released last week by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, DC think tank known for its rigorous studies. Meantime average U.S. workers made just 10.2% more in 2013 than they did 30 years ago. Top CEOs now make 300 times more than typical workers.

  Forbes July 2, 2015
• Why We Still Need Affirmative Action Policies In College Admissions

  Richard Rothstein a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute has critiqued the idea of taking into consideration students who come from impoverished neighborhoods as opposed to race, as advocated by Sheryll Cashin, a law professor at Georgetown University and author ofPlace Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America.

  Think Progress July 2, 2015
• Why isn’t the middle class earning $156,000 a year?

  Everyone knows the Top 1% have been killing it in recent decades, while most Americans have seen their incomes stagnate. But what if the middle class were doing as well as the richest Americans? What would their annual income be? CNNMoney asked the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research group, to crunch the numbers. The answer: $156,318.

  CNN Money July 2, 2015