“A 2.2% real wage growth is just really good, excellent performance,” said Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “If you do that for a number of years, you end up with much higher living standards.”
NBC News
July 14, 2023
According to a report from The Economic Policy Institute, for over 25 years, the average weekly wages of teachers have been relatively flat when adjusted for inflation. Since 1996, weekly pay for teachers has increased by only $29, while other college graduates’ salary has increased by $445 per week over that same time period.
CBS News Baltimore
July 14, 2023
Bill has also worked at the Economic Policy Institute and served as the executive director of the National Urban League’s Institute for Opportunity and Equality.
Legacy.com
July 14, 2023
Meanwhile, legislators in at least 14 states over the past two years – including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin – have pushed to ease child labor regulations, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Some proposals have been enacted: In March, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation removing requirements for age verification and work certificates for employees under the age of 16.
U.S. News & World Report
July 14, 2023
According to the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, “paid sick leave guarantees are seen by many public health experts as one of the strongest tools in stopping the spread of infectious diseases,” while the Economic Policy Institute finds that low-wage workers are particularly susceptible to having limited paid sick leave.
CalMatters
July 14, 2023
In response, states and localities across the U.S. are raising minimum wages this summer, many on an incremental route to a $15 minimum. Experts say even the gradual changes are especially important now in the midst of high inflation. But they warn that more states need to follow, and point to loopholes in the policies, often affecting the most vulnerable workers, that must be tightened.
Connecticut kicked off a summer of increases in June, lifting its minimum wage by $1 to $15. This month, Washington D.C. increased its wage by $0.90, to $17. Oregon and Nevada raised theirs by $0.70 and $0.75, respectively, to $14.20 and $11.25.
[Paywall].
Fast Company
July 14, 2023
There may be some room for compromise on the issue, however, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. While EPI opposes keeping the sub-minimum pay, Shierholz said the phase-in period for the tipped rate to match the minimum wage could be lengthened instead of having the two minimum pay thresholds match within seven years, like in the previous proposal.
“I’m completely fine with just taking time to do it,” she said. “But it should be done.”
Bloomberg Law
July 14, 2023
And while concern about rapid wage growth drove the Fed’s rate hikes, it’s not clear that higher wages are leading to markedly better living conditions for some Americans. Post-COVID-19 wages have been growing, but mostly from the bottom. Real wage growth for low-wage workers from 2019 to 2022 was 9 percent, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which means it’s grown faster than inflation. That was partly driven by a high quit rate: The tight labor market meant that employees could leave jobs that weren’t satisfying or well-paying enough for better jobs. That often meant leaving low-paying service sector jobs, like in restaurants, and service sector employers had to raise their wages to lure employees back.
…
And some of the recent gains for low-wage work may be temporary. Elise Gould, a senior economist at the EPI, said that Biden-era policies were actually responsible for some of that wage growth among the lowest-earning workers. Pandemic-era programs like enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits gave low-income workers the cushion they needed to be able to look for new jobs with higher wages, she said. But much of that assistance is gone or is drying up, and the gains could disappear. “There’s nothing that we have right now, in terms of labor standards … that’s going to lock in the wage gains that we have,” she said.
FiveThirtyEight
July 14, 2023
Fourteen states across the country – including Wisconsin – have introduced proposals to roll back child labor protections.
“The trend reflects a coordinated multi-industry push to expand employer access to low-wage labor and weaken state child labor laws in ways that contradict federal protections,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Guardian
July 14, 2023