During this summer of heat, smoke, and flash flooding, food delivery workers have been braving the streets to bring New Yorkers our food. Biblical weather isn’t delivery workers’ only challenge, though: their pay in New York City averages around $7 per hour without tips, and there’s a high rate of workplace fatalities, after which survivors generally get little or no help from the apps.
It was welcome news, then, that New York City in June set a rule establishing a pay floor for delivery workers of $17.96 per hour, a rate that would land workers around minimum wage, accounting for expenses, unpaid wait time, and other factors. This rule was passed pursuant to a hard-fought law sought by a worker group, Los Deliveristas Unidos.
New York Daily News
July 27, 2023
There are at least nine states — including Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Idaho — that have enacted or introduced laws that would allow minors ages 14 to 17 to serve alcohol, according to a report from Economic Policy Institute.
Business Insider
July 27, 2023
In the last fiscal year, the federal agency found 835 businesses violating child labor laws. Its fines and penalties averaged about $5,300 each. Do you think that’s stringent enough to dissuade would-be violators? Me neither.
What’s worse, “these numbers represent just a tiny fraction of violations, most of which go unreported and uninvestigated,” the labor-affiliated Economic Policy Institute observes.
…
What’s the big deal with allowing teens to serve alcohol? “Numerous studies have found that underage servers are more likely to sell alcohol to underage buyers,” reports Nina Mast of the Economic Policy Institute. “In general, greater access to alcohol is associated with higher rates of underage consumption. Permitting younger workers to serve alcohol will provide underage youth — both workers and customers — with increased proximity to direct and indirect alcohol-related harms that are especially acute for young people.”
LA Times
July 27, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1% of Americans make over 26 times more than the bottom 99% and hold 21% of the nation’s total income.
Business Insider
July 27, 2023
Euclid City Council has voted to enhance wage theft protections.
The ordinance, unanimously approved July 17, will stop Euclid from conducting business with any company that was found to have participated in any form of wage theft in the past three years.
The ordinance would protect some of the estimated 213,000 Ohioans that according to Policy Matters Ohio have been paid below the minimum wage. Nationally, according to the Economic Policy Institute, workers lose an estimated $15 billion per year, which also causes states and local governments to lose out on the tax dollars associated with those payments.
News Herald (Ohio)
July 27, 2023
Forty-four states have at least one law preempting localities from regulating the minimum wage, scheduling, paid leave or other work-related issues, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that tracks the laws.
The Washington Post
July 27, 2023
More states are letting teenagers serve alcohol in bars and restaurants as they roll back child labor protection laws, reports my colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn.
At least nine states have introduced bills to lower the minimum age for serving alcohol since 2021, according to a report released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute.
Seven states have enacted those bills, with more looking to follow suit.
CNN
July 27, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a worker paid the $7.25 federal minimum wage earns 27.4% less in inflation-adjusted terms than what their counterpart was paid in July 2009 when the minimum wage was last increased, and 40.2% less than a minimum wage worker in February 1968, the historical high point of the minimum wage’s value.
The Guardian
July 27, 2023
Unemployment is hovering around 3.6%, meaning it’s relatively easy for people to find a job. Inflation has fallen significantly from its peak in June of 2022, making prices more reasonable at the grocery store. And the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, estimates that wages are up 4.7% over the past year.
Kansas City Star
July 27, 2023