Wisconsin is one of 14 states where lawmakers have proposed rolling back child labor laws over the last two years, according to the Economic Policy Institute. State lawmakers also introduced a bill earlier this year that would allow 14- to 17-year-olds to serve alcohol.
Wisconsin Public Radio
August 25, 2023
We can’t in good conscience support this merger unless we have ironclad guarantees that middle-class jobs will not be jeopardized. Without such guarantees, the Kroger-Albertsons deal could cost American workers more than $300 million annually, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Bakersfield Californian
August 25, 2023
- Twice as many gig workers used Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program benefits compared to W-2 service-sector workers, according to a survey from Economic Policy Institute.
Tech Target
August 25, 2023
Colorado State Treasurer David Young joined treasurers from multiple states in opposing a merger between grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition.
“We believe that this merger may have significant adverse effects on the financial well-being of the people of our states,” the letter reads. “We respectfully request that the Federal Trade Commission oppose this merger”
Young was joined by treasurers from Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington. Kroger owns King Soopers, while Albertsons owns Safeway. Both are popular grocery chains in Colorado.
The seven states noted wages as their primary concern, citing a study by the Economic Policy Institute that found the merger could result in $334 million in lost wages for 746,000 grocery store workers in 50 metro areas across the country. That would equal an average wage decrease of about $450 per year per worker, according to the study.
Colorado Public Radio
August 25, 2023
The Labor Department concluded or resolved a record-low number of wage and hour investigations on farms in fiscal 2022, continuing a yearslong decline, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Staffing and funding are likely to blame, the left-leaning institute said, along with factors related to the expansion of the H-2A temporary farmworker program.
The Biden administration has found fewer back wages owed to farmworkers than the Trump administration, EPI said; however, it has levied more civil money penalties.
“Efforts to protect farmworkers have slid backward, with the number of investigations falling even further behind the already record-low levels during the Trump administration, likely due to the Wage and Hour Division being too underfunded and understaffed for the size of the task at hand,” Daniel Costa, one of the report authors, said in a press release.
Politico Pro
August 25, 2023
“It is really crucial to keep up the drumbeat,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “This is what the economy needs,” [paywall].
Bloomberg Law
August 25, 2023
The claim that teachers are underpaid largely focuses on what teachers unions and progressive advocates call the “teacher pay penalty.” In the formulation of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-wing think tank, “public school teachers earn about 20 percent less in weekly wages than nonteacher college graduates.” That may be true. But is it relevant? Would anyone argue that all occupations requiring a college degree should pay equivalent salaries?
Boston Globe
August 25, 2023
The Economic Policy Institute report, “Chasing the dream of equity,” released this month to commemorate the anniversary of the 1963 march, finds that little progress has been made in removing barriers to the full equitable integration of Black Americans into the U.S. economy. Among its key findings: The racial wealth gap — a typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family — is a long-standing vestige of centuries of government policies that explicitly denied African Americans the opportunity to build wealth.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.
The Chicago Sun Times
August 25, 2023
This means women in the state would have to work until they were 72 to match what a man made by the time he turned 60.
The gap “can be tremendous,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “It means that women on average have less economic security, less retirement security, and don’t have the same opportunities for meeting a decent standard of living.”
Mountain State Spotlight
August 25, 2023
Trans youth on the sidelines this school year, Justice Thomas received more gifts than initially reported, Chick-fil-A worker sent home for hair color, Jasmine Payne-Patterson explains The CROWN Act & working to end hair-based discrimination.
Advocate Today
August 25, 2023