According to the Economic Policy Institute, Union membership was at its highest in 1945, just after World War II was ending, the percentage of national workers represented by Union today is down to about 10%. Yet public support for labor unions is at its highest since 1965 with over two thirds of Americans supporting them. Unions are proven to reduce income inequality and get workers better wages and benefits. Is it possible we’ll see a resurgence?
USA Today
October 6, 2023
One of every four Dollar General employees makes less than $10 an hour, over half under $12, notes an Economic Policy Institute study of 2021 survey data. Even notoriously low-wage Walmart was paying workers, that same year, at least $12 an hour.
Inequality.org
October 6, 2023
When hiring picked up later that year, low-wage workers — like those in restaurants and hotels — had more bargaining power at the individual level, said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. As a result, wages began to grow.
“Low-wage growth between 2019 and 2022 [was] much faster than any other business cycle that we’ve had in the U.S.,” Gould said.
Restaurant Dive
October 6, 2023
A new survey from the Economic Policy Institute pinpoints the ratio between the CEOs and median paid workers at all publicly traded U.S. companies last year at 344-to-1.
American Prospect
October 6, 2023
But to assess the two visits to Michigan mainly in terms of their potential effect on the 2024 election is to think too small. The single most important trend in US economic life in recent decades has been the rise of income inequality, which was overwhelmingly driven by anaemic growth in wages for all but the very highest-paid workers.
Financial Times
October 6, 2023
Jared Bernstein, the chair of the US Council of Economic Advisers, says the disconnect between the data and Americans’ views of the economy probably has a lot to do with persistent sticker shock.
“I think it all comes down to inflation,” Bernstein said during a Wednesday policy briefing at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “I think it’s about prices. I think we’re trying to talk to people about disinflation, and what they really want is deflation. They want their old prices back, dammit.”
Business Insider
October 6, 2023
Lack of standards has real ramifications. According to the Economic Policy Institute, domestic workers are three times as likely to live in poverty than other workers–typical wages for a domestic worker were $12.02/hour; for a non-domestic worker, $19.97. And 39 percent of nannies live twice below the poverty level; for non-domestic workers, the twice-poverty rate is 17 percent.
Marie Claire
October 6, 2023
The bill could worsen graduation rates and hurt lower-income families, experts said, and could also be a way to replace some immigrant labor as Florida and other GOP-led states continue to crack down on undocumented workers.
“Are we willing to return to a world where we accept that children of the poorest families are working more than full-time jobs under hazardous conditions?” said Jennifer Sherer, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Sentinel
October 6, 2023
Don’t worry — it’s still plenty to sustain a growing economy, said Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute.
“When we see job growth in excess of around 100,000, that means that not only are we keeping up with population growth, we’re pulling people in off the sidelines,” Gould said.
Gould sees a job market returning pretty close to pre-pandemic normal.
“The share of workers between 25 and 54 with a job is now at or higher than before, particularly for women. We have very low Black unemployment. So there are many metrics that look very much like 2019 — and even better.”
Marketplace
October 6, 2023