Media clips

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• Minimum wage workers in these states and localities just got a raise

  Lots of low-wage workers just received a boost in pay, as more than a dozen states and localities increased their minimum wages.

  Oregon beefed up its hourly minimum wage by 70 cents to $14.20 as of July 1, while Nevada increased its minimum wage by 75 cents to $11.25, according to a tally by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Washington, DC, raised its minimum wage by 90 cents to $17.

  CNN July 14, 2023
• Amazon and McDonald’s have largest wage gaps between CEOs and employees

  The U.S middle class, which once accounted for the majority of Americans, has been shrinking, while the salaries of top CEOs have increased by over 1,400% since the 1970s; in comparison, the average worker salary grew by just 18.1% in the same period, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

  Employee Benefit News July 14, 2023
• Retailers, beware: Resumption of student loan payments could lead some buyers to pull back

  Even if all that won’t be enough to weaken overall economic growth, the shift in spending by many young adults could inject further uncertainty into an economy already beset by uncertainties, from whether the Fed will manage to tame inflation and halt its interest rate hikes to whether a recession is destined to strike by next year, as many economists still fear.

  Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute think tank, suggested that the likely hit to the economy might amount to perhaps one-third of a percentage point of gross domestic product — the nation’s total output of goods and services — or about $85 billion or $90 billion a year.

  It’s “not trivial, but it’s not huge,’’ Bivens said. “At the macro level, my guess is that it won’t be a game-changer.’’

  Associated Press July 14, 2023
• It’s Hamiltonian! It’s Jeffersonian! It’s Bidenomics!

  As the major U.S. corporations began offshoring their production or their suppliers in the 1980s and ’90s, only a relative handful of progressives—among them, Economic Policy Institute founder Jeff Faux, MIT economist Lester Thurow, and my Prospect colleague-to-be Bob Kuttner—argued that this would do long-term harm to the nation generally and its working class in particular. 

  American Prospect July 14, 2023
• Medicaid payment proposal for health aides rankles home health companies

  Home health agencies say they could be driven out of business by a Biden administration proposal that would require them to spend the majority of their Medicaid dollars on higher pay for direct care workers.

  Why it matters: The proposal aims to improve stability in the home- and community-based care workforce, which is shrinking as the demand for services increases.

  • 1 in 6 direct care aides lives below the poverty line, according to a 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute.
  Axios July 14, 2023
• The places where minimum wages are rising this summer

  Three states and 16 localities raised their minimum wage this summer, many of them through automatic inflation adjustments, the Economic Policy Institute notes in a new report.

  Why it matters: Boosting the wage floor has the downstream effect of raising pay for those who make more than the minimum — as employers have to adjust their wage ladders upward.

  Axios July 14, 2023
• States, cities turn to community organizations to battle wage theft

  Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal government’s response to the economic and health ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed more states and cities to experiment with using community groups to connect with workers as Minneapolis did. That’s according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School.

  …

  The report highlighted efforts in several cities and states.

  In 2021, Maine started a program with $1 million in ARPA funds for job training, help accessing unemployment benefits, and worker outreach with the support of community organizations, the AFL-CIO, and a legal aid group, according to the EPI report. In Seattle, the city’s Office of Labor Standards staff have monthly and quarterly meetings with community-based organizations. Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco also have close partnerships with community organizations as do San Diego and Santa Clara counties in California.

  In Iowa, the cities of Coralville, North Liberty, and Iowa City and Johnson County allocated $322,000 in ARPA funds over five years to the Center for Worker Justice in Eastern Iowa, which investigates wage theft cases and helps put community pressure on employers to pay their employees, and has assisted workers in recovering lost wages.

  States Newsroom July 14, 2023
• July 14, 2023
  July 14, 2023
• The Supreme Court just killed affirmative action in the deluded name of meritocracy

  According to studies by the Economic Policy Institute and U.S. Census Bureau, the top 1% of Americans takes home 21% of all income in the country. Meanwhile, the gap in earnings between those with and without college degrees (also known as the college wage premium) has steadily increased since 2000. 

  San Francisco Chronicle June 30, 2023
• Opinion: The UPS strike authorization vote is about more than just pay

  The negotiations at UPS could also help workers who are not union members. Unions cause a spillover effect, achieving gains that later become standard or legally mandated, like benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families, as well as the eight-hour work day and days off on weekends. Air-conditioned UPS trucks, for example, will help set a norm that all workers deserve heat protection.

  The UPS strike authorization vote also reflects the increasing willingness of workers in a range of industries to exercise collective power to seek better conditions for themselves, their coworkers and future generations. And it’s not just about pay. Railroad workers last fall sought paid sick days. The Amazon Labor Union was formed because of concerns about Covid safety. Kellogg’s workers went on strike in 2021 over a two-tier compensation structure. And on Friday, workers in about 150 Starbucks locations went on strike over the company’s alleged restricting of Pride decorations in some locations.

  CNN June 30, 2023