Media clips

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• An immigrant worker alleges unsanitary working conditions and low wages at a Stamford grocery store

  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
• Labor Department cracks down on child labor while states loosen laws

  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
• Restaurants Want More Teen Labor. Critics Say They’re Putting Kids at Risk of Sexual Harassment.

  “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
• A Better Way Of Measuring Housing (and Everything Else) Cost Burden

  In 2021, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (the Center) compared the two measures using data from the United States Census American Community Survey (ACS) and the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Family Budget Calculator.

  Forbes August 4, 2023
• How the Strikes Could Impact Lavish Hollywood CEO Pay

  “What’s happening right now in Hollywood is a microcosm for what’s happening across America,” says Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute. CEOs of major corporations often earn hundreds of times the salary of the typical worker, he notes, and some entertainment companies have ratios even more jarring.

  …

  When the writers and actors struck in 1960, top executives made a mere fraction of what they do today and only about 20 times that of the typical worker. According to a 2022 study from EPI, CEO pay increased 1,460 percent from 1978 to 2021.

  The Hollywood Reporter August 4, 2023
• Illegal child labor is on the rise in a tight job market

  At least 10 states have introduced or passed bills in the past two years meant to weaken protections against employing children, according to a March report by the Economic Policy Institute.

  This year, bills to weaken the laws have been introduced in Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota.

  CNN Business August 4, 2023
• Here’s how much you need to earn annually to join the 1% in your state

  The top 1% of income earners may be small in number, but they control a greatly disproportionate 21% of the nation’s household income, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. That share has roughly doubled since the 1970s, thanks to rapid income growth among America’s top earners and tepid income growth among middle-class workers, data from the Pew Research Center shows.

  CBS Moneywatch August 4, 2023
• In a Push for Race-Neutral Policies, Black Americans Will Be Left Behind, Experts Fear

  Released this week, the Economic Policy Institute report says that race-neutral policies won’t adequately provide solutions to eliminate economic disparities. Although Black Americans have seen some improvements in income and jobs during the pandemic, the typical Black worker is paid 23% less per hour than a typical white worker. 

  The report comes just weeks before the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28. In 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made urgent calls to raise the minimum wage and build affordable housing. Although civil rights legislation designed to reverse the harm that Jim Crow legislation inflicted on Black communities removed some barriers, racial disparities in employment, wages, and homeownership persist today.

  “The reality is we haven’t made as much progress as we would have liked,” said Adewale Maye, author of the report and a policy and research analyst with the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program at Economic Policy Institute. “When we think of Dr. King and the March on Washington, [one of the] demands was a livable wage, and we’re still fighting for a higher minimum wage. These demands haven’t gone away, but the problem has persisted.”

   

  Capital B August 4, 2023
• Why are US labor strikes increasing, and what’s the future outlook?

  Major strike activity increased by almost fifty percent in 2022, according to the U.S. Labor Department. And the Economic Policy Institute says over 120,000 workers were involved in major work stoppages last year.

  Scripps news August 4, 2023
• Labor, farming subsidies and pesticide bans dominate Tuberville-Pate Farm Bill forum

  A study from the Economic Policy Institute found a strong correlation between the rise in unrestricted trade with less wealthy countries and a decline in American wages, with companies drawn to foreign markets for cheap labor, suppressing both American job creation and wages.

  Alabama Daily News August 4, 2023