MA: That’s right. But, you know, farm employment numbers are actually historically very hard to track, partly because they fluctuate a lot from season to season, partly because a large portion of farm workers are undocumented. Bottom line, farm jobs are not included in the monthly job numbers, which means we hardly ever talk about them on Jobs Friday. So you know what? Let’s change that.
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COSTA: That is the grand mystery of the farm labor market. You’ve put your finger on it. So when there’s a shortage, normally you would think wages would rise, right? That’s the free market. That makes sense, right?
WONG: Except the farm labor market is not really a free market in some pretty key ways. For one thing, many farm workers are either here on a visa program that’s tied to a specific employer, or they’re undocumented. That means it’s more difficult for those workers to leave a job or advocate for better pay or conditions.
NPR Planet Money
August 10, 2023
“The upshot of today’s #JobsReport? It’s yet more evidence that we can have a soft landing,” Heidi Shierholz, an economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Boston Globe
August 10, 2023
Those figures reflect continued tightness in the broader labor market. In July, the U.S. unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5%, which is just above the lowest level since late 1969.
“It shows that the labor market is strong and in a good place,” Economic Policy Institute’s Valerie Wilson said. “Even with the hikes, the interest rate hikes, that the Federal Reserve has been implementing, we continue to see unemployment remain low.”
CNBC
August 10, 2023
Nationwide, gains in pay for low-wage jobs have reached historic proportions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report in March. Compensation for the lowest-paid jobs rose 9% between 2019 and 2022, adjusted for inflation. That’s much higher than the 4.9% for high-wage jobs and 2.4% for middle-wage jobs. And it was the biggest bounce for low-wage workers since at least 1979, according to the report.
“The labor market is stronger now, particularly for workers who are historically disadvantaged because of their relative scarcity,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and lead author of the March report.
CityBeat
August 10, 2023
For three years pay hikes fell behind inflation and profits soared. According to the AFL-CIO, worker strikes are at an all-time high because CEOs claim they can’t afford to boost worker pay. Yet, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio is at its second-highest level – 272-1 — ever, and the Economic Policy Institute reports worker productivity has outpaced pay gains by 3.7 times for 40 years.
Forbes
August 10, 2023
The potential work stoppage comes as the nation is seeing a significant uptick in strikes as well as organizing drives. Earlier this year, the Economic Policy Institute reported that major strike activity in the country was up by 50 percent last year.
Insider NJ
August 4, 2023
A study by the Economic Policy Institute shows that undocumented workers, like Moreno, are more likely to be victims of workplace abuses, and substandard health and safety procedures.
Connecticut Public Radio
August 4, 2023
Experts contend the new laws will harm poor children, children of color and undocumented children who would take these jobs out of necessity to survive.
“They’re seeking to expand employment to workers that can be paid less in order to keep wages low and still maintain the same levels of employment,” said Nina Mast, a state economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute. “At the same time, you also have our broken immigration system that has resulted in many unaccompanied migrant youth in this country without work authorization and sort of compelled by their economic circumstances to work. And that’s really a recipe for exploitation because they lack sort of the legal rights and support to demand safe and age-appropriate work.”
The Hill
August 4, 2023
“Sexual harassment of teens in the workplace is a huge and widespread problem that is rarely talked about,” says Jennifer Sherer, director of the State Worker Power Initiative at the Economic Policy Institute, which has cataloged recent child-labor bills. The debate over the Iowa bill, she says, “did serve as a wake-up call and a reminder that the safeguards we have in place, as it is, aren’t preventive, and that many teens and many adults who look back on their teen work have experienced harassment.”
Barron’s
August 4, 2023