Absenteeism rates were also significantly impacted by poverty, disability status, race/ethnicity and language status: 26% of students with an individualized education program, 23.2% of free-lunch-eligible students, 17.9% of reduced-price-lunch-eligible students, 24.1% of Hispanic English learners, 24% of Native American students and 23% of black students missed three or more days of school. (whole post)
Education Drive | September 26, 2018
Taking into account fees as well as other expenses incurred, Uber drivers typically end up earning just $9.21 an hour, a different report published by Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C. found. In his research, Mishel said he has found that there has been an increase in the amount of Uber drivers over the course of four years who are driving fewer hours each week. “Driving for Uber has become much more of an ancillary earning activity,” he said citing data from his report which equates eight Uber drivers to one full-time worker.
MarketWatch | September 25, 2018
The CEOs of the 350 biggest companies in the country are making more money now than in the past, and in some cases, a lot more. That’s according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Lawrence Mishel is an economist there and worked on the report. He joined The Show to discuss what they found.
KJZZ | September 25, 2018
In earlier years, wages would have started moving higher sooner in a bullish economic cycle than they did this time, said Valerie Wilson, director of the race, ethnicity and economy program for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Even with the gains over the past five years, median household incomes in Franklin County and other areas are just now returning to the inflation-adjusted levels they were at a decade ago. “It started happening much later, not at the rate or pace that would suggest the labor market is tight,” Wilson said. And she said there are no policies or agendas at the federal level geared toward reducing income inequality between high- and low-income workers. Wilson’s group released a report this month titled “America’s Slow-Motion Wage Crisis,” which said that from 1980 to 2017, earnings of the highest-wage workers grew by 47 percent nationally when adjusted for inflation. Among the lowest-paid workers, the gain was 9 percent.
The Columbus Dispatch | September 24, 2018
So with Initiative 77 back in the spotlight, Rebecca sits down with Dave Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, and one of the policy experts who testified at the hearing.
Off-Kilter | September 24, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit think tank, announced Thursday that it planned to move its annual Economic Analysis and Research Network conference from the Kimpton Hotel Allegro to “stand in solidarity” with the striking hotel workers. The conference, scheduled for Oct. 3-5, involved nearly 300 hotel nights, the nonprofit said.
Chicago Tribune | September 24, 2018
In the United States, the pay-rise gap was wider still. The average chief executive of the 350 largest firms received an eye-watering $18.9 million, a 17.6 per cent increase on 2016, while the typical workers’ salary barely shifted, increasing just 0.3 per cent, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) think tank.
Raconteur | September 24, 2018
The other Florida: Forty-four percent of households can’t afford basic needs such as food, housing, childcare, health care, and transportation, according to a United Way study. Florida is second only to New York in economic inequality; The average income of the top 1 percent earner in Florida is 40 times higher than the average income of the remaining 99 percent, the liberal Economic Policy Institute found.
Tampa Bay Times | September 24, 2018
But there is more data from the Economic Policy Institute for a shorter time period (2010 to 2015) due to data availability at the county level that shows that income growth for the top 1 percent maps to geographic inequities in North Carolina. In the state’s urban counties, the top 1 percent have incomes that are 23 times that of the bottom 99 percent, whereas in the state’s rural counties that ratio is 14 times. (Whole story)
The Progressive Pulse | September 24, 2018
Americans without a four-year college degree now earn less than they did in 1979, according to research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. College-educated workers, meanwhile, enjoyed wage gains of about 16 percent over that time. Americans with graduate degrees saw their income rise 30 percent.
CBS Moneywatch | September 20, 2018
Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who formerly worked for several labor unions, said the bonus and benefit growth are more reflective of a several years of falling unemployment than of recent tax cuts. “Overall wage and compensation growth does not provide much in the way of bragging rights for tax cutters,” he said. “Especially given the expectation of rising wages and compensation amidst low unemployment.”
The Wall Street Journal | September 19, 2018
Already, California and Washington state have passed almost identical “One Fair Wage” policies, and a recent study out of the Economic Policy Institute suggests tipped workers in San Francisco and Seattle, which are also phasing in a $15 minimum wage, earn more than their D.C. counterparts. … The Economic Policy Institute’s study on One Fair Wage cities was questioned by many anti-77 speakers, but David Cooper, who wrote the paper, testified to reiterate his findings: Seattle tipped workers make 7 percent more in median hourly wages than those in D.C. and San Francisco tipped workers make 21 percent more. The study also complicates the assertion that jobs will be lost—in both Seattle and San Francisco, “tipped workers make up a larger share of the overall workforce” than in D.C. Still, opponents insisted that D.C. is unique, with fewer chains and more locally-owned restaurants than other cities; and that comparing it with other One Fair Wage cities is unhelpful.
City Lab | September 19, 2018
Colorado has the fourth worst teacher pay gap in the country. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute found Colorado teachers make 35.1 percent less that other workers living in similar parts of the state with similar education. The paper tracks teacher pay since 1979, when they made about 5.5 percent less than comparable workers nationally. By 2017 that gap had grown to 18.7 percent. (whole story)
KUNC | September 19, 2018
An analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-backed think tank, is scheduled to testify on his recent paper that shows mostly positive effects from “one fair wage” policies in California and Washington State. But economists are mixed on the issue: The business-backed D.C. Policy Institute rebutted the EPI study today, saying it “fails to meet standard tests of reliability.”
WAMU | September 19, 2018
D.C. TIP TROUBLES: The D.C. Council met late into last night to hear testimony about rescinding Initiative 77, a ballot measure approved by D.C. voters earlier this year that extended to tipped workers D.C.’s standard hourly minimum ($13.25 now; set to rise to $15 in 2020) rather than the $3.89 “tipped” minimum. Labor advocates contend that a tipped minimum perpetuates gender and racial bias and encourages wage and hour violations. But many workers think they do better when they earn the bulk of their money from tips, because when they’re paid standard minimum, restaurant prices go up, prompting customers to tip less. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released a study last week disputing that conclusion. It found that tipped workers in Seattle and San Francisco who were paid a $15 minimum earned more per hour than tipped workers in D.C. (Twenty-one percent more in San Francisco and 7 percent more in Seattle.) Read the EPI study here.
Politico Pro | September 19, 2018
Lined up to uphold the vote is the One Fair Wage D.C. coalition backed up by documents and reports from the Economic Policy Institute, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and Public Citizen organizations.
The Georgetowner | September 19, 2018
Meanwhile, the pay gap between teachers and other comparably educated professionals is now the largest on record. In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less. The situation is particularly grim in states such as Oklahoma, where teachers’ inflation-adjusted salaries actually decreased by about $8,000 in the last decade, to an average of $45,245 in 2016, according to DOE data. In Arizona, teachers’ average inflation-adjusted annual wages are down $5,000. (EPI cited throughout)
Time | September 17, 2018
It’s not hard to see why parents would feel that way. A report by the Economic Policy Institutefinds that teacher pay lags 18.7 percent behind those with similar education. For three presidential administrations in a row, federal education policy has been aligned around establishing “test and punish” policies, which have stripped teachers of their autonomy and sent them chasing one initiative after another.
New York Daily News | September 17, 2018
In a July 2018 report, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, ranked the states on the basis of the ratio of the average income of the top one percent to the average income of the remaining 99 percent. California came in seventh, with New York, Florida and Connecticut ranked highest on inequality.
The New York Times | September 17, 2018
Research from the Economic Policy Institute released on Thursday in partnership with the Century Foundation showed that wages have been growing slowly and unequally in the past four decades. According to the research, wages have increased 0.4 percent per year, on average, when adjusted for inflation.
Politico | September 17, 2018
In 2000, the average CEO was paid 343 times more than the average worker, according to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. That number dropped to about 188-to-1 in 2009. It has since rebounded to 312-to-1 last year, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. (Larry quoted and EPI cited throughout)
PBS Newshour | September 17, 2018
C-SPAN | September 17, 2018
USA Today | September 17, 2018
The Washington Post | September 17, 2018
The Hill | September 17, 2018
Those concerns appear unfounded, however, when considering the experiences of other large cities that have raised the tipped minimum wage, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The report used American Community Survey data to analyze the effects of eliminating or beginning to phase out the tip credit in San Francisco and the Seattle metropolitan area, finding that the restaurant sector in both area continued to grow while earnings for tipped workers shot up. (Dave quoted and EPI cited throughout)
The American Prospect | September 17, 2018
“Tipped workers do better in cities where they are paid the regular minimum wage, and the restaurant industry continues to thrive,” economic analyst David Cooper concluded in a 24-page report by the Raising America’s Pay initiative of the Economic Policy Institute, a D.C. think tank. The report focuses on the demographics of D.C.’s tipped employees and the impact of the guaranteed $15-an-hour wage regulations established in San Francisco and Seattle in the past two years. Cooper will present the report at the Sept. 17 Council meeting. “Tipped workers in DC are majority people of color,” the EPI report concludes. Sixty-five percent of tipped workers work full time (although many work several part-time serving jobs). And although many tipped employees live in nearby Virginia and Maryland, “tipped workers are more likely than non-tipped workers to be DC residents.” (Dave quoted and EPI cited throughout)
The Georgetowner | September 17, 2018
D.C. residents voted in June to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, but the matter is far from settled. As members of the D.C. Council consider whether to overturn the vote, saying higher wages could hurt workers in the long run, a left-leaning think tank has published a study rejecting that claim.
Initiative 77, which increases the hourly tipped wage from $3.89 to $15 over seven years, is likely to boost workers’ income without eliminating a significant number of jobs, says David Cooper with the Economic Policy Institute, a union-backed research organization. (whole story)
WAMU | September 17, 2018
Does eliminating tips help wait staff? Early indicators point to yes. After San Francisco and Seattle enacted a $15 minimum wage for all workers, employees in? the restaurant industry saw improvements, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute released on Wednesday. The study compared those two cities to Washington D.C., where a similar policy has been proposed. It found Washington, D.C. and other cities would benefit from a “one fair wage policy.” “Tipped workers are unambiguously better off in cities where tipped workers are paid the regular minimum wage, regardless of tips,” said David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. (whole story)
Marketplace | September 17, 2018
According to a new survey conducted by Airbnb, 10 percent of the company’s hosts in the United States are teachers. That’s pretty remarkable given that less than 2 percent of the country are K-12 educators. So what’s driving teachers to rent out their homes and spare bedrooms? It’s obvious: low pay. A new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute finds that public school teachers are paid on average nearly 20 percent less than workers in professions that require similar education and training. The researchers also found that in 1994 the pay gap was roughly 2 percent — meaning the “wage penalty” that public school teachers face for electing to educate our nation’s children has risen by 18 percentage points in just a couple of decades. (EPI cited throughout)
Jacobin | September 17, 2018