Between 2019 and 2022, the lowest 10 percent of wage earners nationally saw their inflation-adjusted hourly wage grow by 9 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That’s the fastest wage growth for the lowest-wage workers since 1979.
Wisconsin Public Radio
June 16, 2023
The Department of Labor found hundreds of workplaces in violation of these laws that protect minors, affecting nearly 4,000 kids. Fast food restaurants McDonald’s, Subway and Dunkin Donuts had the most violations, according to 2022 data.
“Many franchisees across many states have been investigated,” said Nina Mast with the Economic Policy Institute. She said fast food restaurants have been dinged for working kids too many hours and in violation of protections against hazardous work.
“Particularly around the use of manual deep fat fryers and other hazardous equipment in the fast food industry,” Mast added.
Mast’s research found that in the last two years, at least ten states have passed or have pushed looser child labor laws.
Marketplace
June 16, 2023
The national Economic Policy Institute ranks Wisconsin 20th in the nation for most expensive infant care, finding that the average Wisconsin family with two children would have to spend about a third of their annual income on child care.
Wisconsin Public Radio
June 16, 2023
Bills that aim to weaken child labor laws have been introduced or passed in 10 states over the last two years, according to a study from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released in March.
ABC News
June 16, 2023
You may have read about how Americans, on average, are coming up short when it comes to building their retirement nest eggs. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, the median retirement savings for all working-age households is $95,776.
GO Banking Rates
June 16, 2023
Larry Mishel, who was a colleague of Bill’s when both worked at the Economic Policy Institute, was a friend since they were in graduate school together at Madison beginning in the late 1970s. Bill was the only Black student in their entering cohort. Larry has written:
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But the thing that made Bill Spriggs most special, from my experience, was his personal sweetness and generosity blended with political toughness and commitment. Valerie Wilson, who directs EPI’s much acclaimed Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, has written:
American Prospect
June 15, 2023
The dissertation set the tone for four decades of research and leadership by a scholar-activist of great intellect and great conscience, who went on to chair the economics department at Howard University, helped to define the Economic Policy Institute’s work on labor issues, led the National Commission for Employment Policy and the National Wage Record Database Design Project Report for the Clinton administration, served as assistant secretary for policy in Obama’s Labor Department, and spent the last decade of his life teaching economics at Howard and working with the AFL-CIO.
The Nation
June 15, 2023
The federal government has vowed to crack down on violations of child labor laws, but the Economic Policy Institute, which examines the economic impact of government policies, reports that in the last two years, at least fourteen states have either passed or introduced measures to weaken the laws protecting children from dangerous working conditions. They permit longer work hours and more dangerous work, lower the ages for work around alcohol, or introduce new subminimum wages for children.
Substack
June 15, 2023
His career also includes time as executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Living Standards Program and a stint as deputy chief economist at the Department of Labor under the Clinton administration.
Executive Gov
June 15, 2023