At least 14 states have introduced or enacted laws within the past two years that relaxed child labor restrictions, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
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But removing those restrictions is not the only way to address labor shortages or encourage youth employment, said Nina Mast, an economic analyst with EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network. Employers, Mast continued, could explore training pathways for minors such as pre-apprenticeship training.
“If employers feel that their only strategy to [combat labor shortages] is to open those jobs to youth who have historically been barred from that work, I would say that that is the wrong strategy,” Mast said.
HR Dive
August 10, 2023
Cites EPI research on alcohol service age. Paywall.
Fortune
August 10, 2023
Quotes Nina Mast. [Paywall]
Commercial Observer
August 10, 2023
Today’s CEOs, analysts at the Economic Policy Institute detailed last October, routinely pocket 400 times and more what their workers are making.
Inequality.org
August 10, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median retirement savings for all working-age households in the U.S. is $95,776. That includes employer-sponsored retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts, but not Social Security benefits.
Dallas Morning News
August 10, 2023
Overall, U.S. child labor violations have “skyrocketed,” said Nina Mast, MPP, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. According to a March report from the institute — which Mast coauthored — the number of minors employed in violation of child labor laws in fiscal year 2022 increased 283% over fiscal year 2015. The number of minors employed in violation of hazardous work rules went up 94%.
“But the vast number of violations go unreported,” Mast told The Nation’s Health.
Mast said a variety of factors are likely contributing to increased violations, including a rise in unaccompanied migrant children; the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated poverty and economic insecurity; and more attention to the issue from DOL investigators.
The Nation’s Health
August 10, 2023
In 2019, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute’s economists wrote that they hoped that college graduates could find themselves in a “high-pressure economy” where a prolonged period of “labor market strength translated into better opportunities for workers across the board.”
Business Insider
August 10, 2023
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009, and 48 municipalities have passed higher local minimum wages, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit think tank.
The Denver Post
August 10, 2023
Despite decades of pushing for equality, both women and racial minorities still fall far short in terms of representation and pay compared with their white male colleagues, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
August 10, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the labor force participation rate among 16- to 24-year-olds has fallen from 65.8% in 2000 to 55.6% in 2022.
To boost youth employment, lawmakers in at least 10 states have pushed bills to loosen child labor laws and protections to increase youth labor participation.
CNBC
August 10, 2023