Media clips

• The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for 15 years. How the election may change that

  Raising today’s federal minimum wage would help low-wage workers who are trying to earn a living and have a sense of economic security, said Ben Zipperer, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that provides economic research.

  “The minimum wage has basically lost, 29%, 30% of its purchasing power over the last 15 years, simply because Congress has failed to update it,” Zipperer said.

  Lifting the minimum wage threshold to $15 per hour would increase the incomes of about 20 million workers, Zipperer said. That would include people who are low-wage workers who may be earning hourly pay that is slightly more than the federal minimum wage threshold.

  “Changes in wages don’t necessarily result in big changes in employment,” Zipperer said.

  “When you raise wages at a particular workplace, that makes it a lot easier to recruit and retain workers,” he said.

  CNBC August 20, 2024
• Mixed bag of news on joblessness in Alabama

  The Alabama Department of Labor is out with the State’s latest unemployment report. Communities in the State’s region known as the “Black Belt” are ranked as having the highest number of residents without jobs. However, quarterly figures from the Economic Policy Institute indicate that African American workers in Alabama have had better employment levels than much of the nation.

  Alabama Public Radio August 20, 2024
• Fast Food’s Automation Problem

  In April, California raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour—the culmination of a long campaign by fast food workers across the state. Even in the state’s rural inland counties, where the cost of living is lowest, the new rate isn’t enough for a single adult without children to survive working forty hours per week, every week, for the entire year, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s cost of living calculator. 

  The Progressive Magazine August 20, 2024
• Harris — like Trump — wants to stop taxing tips. That’s a bad idea.

  We’ve all noticed how tipping has spread like wildfire; it seems like almost every purchase you make is now accompanied by a request for a tip, even when you received nothing resembling “service” at all. More importantly, tipping is a practice that has deeply racist roots; as an Economic Policy Institute report notes, “Following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, formerly enslaved Black workers were often relegated to service jobs (e.g., food service workers and railroad porters). However, instead of paying Black workers any wage at all, employers suggested that guests offer Black workers a small tip for their services.” 

  MSNBC.com August 20, 2024
• Harris Needs to Put Working-Class Policy Before DC Decorum

  Failing to raise the minimum wage has kept millions of low-wage workers, mostly restaurant and service industry employees, from meeting basic financial demands, according to a 2023 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank focused on economic trends and policies affecting workers.

  Jacobin August 20, 2024
• Harris and Trump steal from each other’s playbooks on economic policies

  What Democrats can point out in defense is rising wages relative to inflation. According to the Economic Policy Institute, average wages have beat the rise of inflation for the past year. Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) noted that in a recent post.

  Washington Examiner August 20, 2024
• Most workers make about the same as before the pandemic — except in these states

  The inflation-adjusted wage spike early in the pandemic was somewhat misleading, both because 20 million low-wage service workers left the workforce temporarily and because prices for some things such as gasoline temporarily plummeted, noted Josh Bivens, chief economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

  As the economic recovery has progressed, workers are doing slightly better, Bivens said.

  “On the one hand, all else equal, you’d want better wage growth over four and a half years,” Bivens said. “On the other hand, we suffered a horrible economic shock in that period. Relative to other recessions and recoveries, this is superb wage performance, even with the inflation.”

  Stateline August 20, 2024
• August 19, 2024
  August 20, 2024
• ‘Dismal labor prospects’: More and more young people aren’t in school, working at jobs, or even in training — here’s why older generations might’ve had a leg up

  Over the years, the “productivity-pay gap” shows how working hard doesn’t always get you far. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) explains this as the difference between the growth of the economy (“productivity”) and workers’ wages (“pay”).

  MoneyWise August 12, 2024
• Harris’ vice-presidential running-mate choice shows rise of progressive economics
  Recent Supreme Court challenges to reforms enacted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), including a ban on “non-compete clauses”, show how hard it is to advance progressive policies, said Heidi Shierholz, who runs the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute:

  “It feels like it’s a heyday for progressive economics in terms of the public discourse, but there are so many obstacles in the path of actually seeing the realization.”
  Reuters August 12, 2024
• Kamala Harris could make history as the first president to work at McDonald’s

  Nearly 30 percent of US workers, roughly 44 million people, make less than $17 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Independent August 12, 2024
• Top U.S. Cities for Recent College Graduates

  For this campaign, we collected data from Zillow, Indeed, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Economic Policy Institute and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine which metropolitan areas are the most favorable for recent college graduates. We analyzed 70 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. based on the region’s size, comparing the cities across the following metrics:

  MarketWatch August 12, 2024
• Biden’s White House has tried to boost unions. The election could change that.

  “They have not, in terms of precedent-setting matters, unchecked the boxes” across the board — like Trump-era rules letting employers restrict workers’ use of company email for organizing and to discipline employees in a new union before contract talks — said McNicholas, who is now the director of policy and general counsel at EPI Action, part of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute think tank.

  …

  Trump also oversaw a drop in union election petitions. “When you know that you have a board that is particularly hostile to workers, the logical, sensical thing of the organizers is to think, ‘Well, I don’t want this question to come before this board,’” McNicholas said.

  NBC News August 12, 2024
• Trump’s threat to America’s future economic prosperity

  Let’s not forget, since 1933, America’s economy has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6 percent under Democratic presidents and only 2.4 percent under Republicans (Economic Policy Institute, April 2).

  Daily Montanan August 12, 2024
• First ever ‘Baby Bonds’ in New Mexico awarded to 15 children

  According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, New Mexico ranks 45 out of 50 for income inequality in the United States. 

  KRQE Albuquerque August 12, 2024
• Purdue’s daycare costs double the price of student tuition. Families need employers’ help.

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank, policies and subsidies are most impactful when families pay no more than 7% of their income toward child care. If child care costs were capped at 7%, more parents would join the workforce — and many of these would be women. The EPI estimates that a statewide reform like this would “expand Indiana’s economy by 1.0%. That’s $3.7 billion of new economic activity.”

  Indy Star August 12, 2024
• From Tips to TikTok, Trump Discards Policies With Aim to Please Voters

  In 2017, Mr. Trump’s Labor Department proposed changing federal regulations to allow employers to collect tips that their workers receive and use them for essentially any purpose as long as the workers were paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. In theory, the flexibility would make it possible for restaurant owners to ensure that cooks and dishwashers received part of a pool of tip money, but in practice employers could pocket the tips and spend them at their discretion.

  The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimated at the time that the policy could cost tipped workers $5.8 billion a year.

  New York Times August 12, 2024
• Arkansas AG angles to help employers avoid paying overtime

  An estimated 4.3 million Americans would become eligible to be paid for extra hours worked under the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rule, and they could expect to collect $1.5 billion in additional wages annually, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute.

  Arkansas Times August 12, 2024
• Why We Need a Four-Day Workweek

  The call for a four-day workweek is fundamentally a matter of economic justice. While worker productivity has grown by over 60 percent since the 1970s, wages have only increased by about 15 percent, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. A reduction in work hours could help address these disparities by allowing more people to share in the economic benefits of increased productivity.

  Inequality.org August 12, 2024
• S7 E8: The People’s Pushback

  Over several decades, a growing number of people in the United States and elsewhere – especially younger people – have turned against capitalism. The reasons are not hard to find.

  Reported by Lewis Raven Wallace and produced by John Biewen, with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Esteban Kelly, Josh Bivens, Malaika Jibali, and Evan Caldwell.

  Scene On Radio podcast August 12, 2024
• Cash For Rent: More Patience And Nuance Please

  …for children. One of the most massive costs, according to the Economic Policy Institute, is child care. Offsetting that cost means, maybe,…[paywall]]. 

  Forbes August 12, 2024
• The teacher ‘pay penalty’ is trending in the wrong direction post-pandemic

  HeyTutor analyzed data from the Economic Policy Institute to illustrate how teacher wages compare to other workers Teaching vacancies…[paywall]. 

  Tulsa World August 12, 2024
• Airbnb shares drop 14% due to fewer American guests

  Airbnb called the regulation a soft ban on its business, but critics pointed to data suggesting the company’s short-term rentals were driving up rents in the city. According to a 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute, the company’s introduction and expansion in New York drove up average rents in the city by nearly $400 annually. The company sued the city twice in an effort to undermine the legislation.

  The Independent August 12, 2024
• Manufacturing Jobs: Unions Made Them Good, Not the Factories

  An analysis done by Larry Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute in 2018 found that there was still a substantial premium for manufacturing workers over the years 2010-2016 when controlling for these factors. A more recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Board found that this premium had disappeared altogether, even when controlling for these factors.

  Counterpunch August 12, 2024
• Walz Labor Wins Hailed by Unions as Businesses Flash Red Lights

  Minnesota also passed a law last year establishing a state-run sector council to set wages and other workplace standards for nursing home workers. The council—composed of labor, industry, and government representatives—is a new approach to improve working conditions by sector, said Dave Kamper, senior state policy strategist for the Economic Policy Institute Action organization.

  And businesses needed some convincing from Walz to pass that law, Kamper, who worked at the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees before EPI, said.

  “Governor Walz was helpful in bringing all the different parties to the table to to genuinely hammer out a compromise on how to make the standards board work,” said Kamper. “There are certainly other industries, other states, where this has come up and it’s often opposed very strongly. In this case, the unions and the employers and Governor Walz and the legislature as a whole were able to come up with a deal that everyone felt was in their best interests.”

  Bloomberg Law August 12, 2024
• Local restaurant owner faces $73,000 fine in child labor case

  Since 2021, lawmakers in 31 states have introduced bills that would weaken child labor protections, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that examines how policies affect low- and middle-income workers. This year, EPI tracked bills weakening child labor protections that passed in eight red states: Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

  Bellevue Herald Leader August 12, 2024
• A New Wave of Pro-Public-School Organizing

  On average, contributions from federal agencies make up only about 8 percent of public school operating budgets. A 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) uses data to make the case for a school funding overhaul, arguing that Congress should be investing significantly more to ensure that US school districts are adequately and equitably resourced.

  Jacobin August 12, 2024
• Columbus Schools warns driver shortage will lead to late buses when school starts this month

  The nationwide bus driver shortage remains a persistent issue for districts across the country, according to a November 2023 study by the Economic Policy Institute.

  According to the research, there was an approximately 15% overall reduction in bus drivers since 2019, with192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools in September 2023, and a 13.6% decline in state and local government school bus drivers.

  Columbus Dispatch August 12, 2024
• All the new minimum wages in Colorado that kick in Jan. 1

  The intention was also to address the wage inequality for women and racial minorities who were some of the lowest earners, according to the Economic Policy Institute, she said. And the Denver City Council chose to align annual increases with CPI “because what we know from federal research is that when you fail to keep up with the cost of living, wages erode over time. That’s a best practice nationally.”

  The Colorado Sun August 12, 2024
• Bus driver shortage continues to impact schools

  Many data analysts see the shortage as a nationwide trend. The Economic Policy Institute reported that 72.6% of public school bus drivers were age 50 and older, compared to just 37.5% of state and local government employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the median age for school bus drivers in 2023 was 55.5.

  Paducah Sun (KY) August 12, 2024