Americans have long struggled to save enough for retirement, which remains a problem today. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average working household has just $95,776 saved for their golden years.
Motley Fool
July 14, 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.
Milwaukee Independent
July 14, 2023
“Race-blind admissions processes will further exacerbate existing inequalities and undermine the recognition of the unique challenges that Black, Hispanic, and Native American students encounter throughout the admissions process,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. “By disregarding the significance of race, these approaches risk creating a wider divide between equal opportunity and communities of color.”
The Messenger
July 14, 2023
But a recent national survey by the Economic Policy Institute found that 29% of gig workers reported making less than the state minimum wage—which is $7.25 an hour in Texas. And studies by labor economists have estimated that actual gig-worker pay after factoring in waiting time, expenses, and the lack of benefits could be vastly lower than the rates that gig companies claim their workers make—as little as $4.82.
Fast Company
July 14, 2023
Meanwhile, the Economic Policy Institute – a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank – reports that 14 states have introduced bills weakening child labor standards in the past two years and five state have passed them: Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
“We’re seeing teens … hired into highly exploitative work that involves excessive hours, illegal exposure to either hazards or chemicals,” EPI’s Jennifer Sherer told NBC Nightly News last month.
The EPI-noted states have enacted laws extending the hours 14- and 15-year-olds can work. Bills have proposed paying young workers below a state’s minimum wage and allowing them to do more hazardous jobs.
The Journal Record (Oklahoma)
July 14, 2023
Nationwide, gains in pay for low-wage jobs have reached historic proportions, according to an Economic Policy Institute report in March. Compensation for the lowest-paid jobs rose 9% between 2019 and 2022, adjusted for inflation. That’s much higher than the 4.9% for high-wage jobs and 2.4% for middle-wage jobs. And it was the biggest bounce for low-wage workers since at least 1979, according to the report.
“The labor market is stronger now, particularly for workers who are historically disadvantaged because of their relative scarcity,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and lead author of the March report.
“Employers are scrambling to get them hired back,” she said. “They can look across the street and see better wages and bonuses.”
However, research from the Economic Policy Institute and other groups shows a continuation of the decadeslong trend of low-wage workers falling behind as rising costs outpace their incomes.
States Newsroom
July 14, 2023
At the same time, corporate boards like Walmart’s are approving executive benefits that have grown exponentially in comparison to worker pay — in fact, the Economic Policy Institute released a report stating that CEO pay has increased by 1,460% since 1978, while worker pay has increased by just 18.1%.
CNN
July 14, 2023
Based on data from The Economic Policy Institute, the merger will permanently reduce the wages of 746,000 grocery store workers in over 50 metropolitan areas with their annual incomes falling by $334 million, at least an estimated $450 loss per worker. That $450 loss may not look like much to wealthy corporate board members, but for many of Albertsons’ employees trying to raise a family on a grocery store wage, it’s a big deal and a bad deal.
Idaho Statesman
July 14, 2023
As Biden prepared to become president, one of those think tanks, the Economic Policy Institute, assembled a host of economists, unions, and other liberal groups to make the case that recovery from the pandemic collapse required extraordinary measures that would push the economy toward full employment. Within the Biden administration and among Democrats generally, those arguments prevailed.
The American Prospect
July 14, 2023
“We typically see that Black unemployment rate rises by more than other groups and I don’t necessarily have any strong reason to suspect that that wouldn’t be the case were we to head into another recession,” Valerie Wilson director of the think-tank Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy said ahead of the monthly report.
Wilson said the economic stimulus during the pandemic contributed to the relatively strong economic recovery for African Americans in the past year, but that these gains could be temporary.
Reuters
July 14, 2023