Ten states launched efforts to weaken child labor protections in the last year, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. Several states have already passed laws weakening or lowering restrictions. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law this March eliminating age verification and parental consent requirements for kid workers. Iowa passed a separate pro-child labor law in 2022 and is considering another bill that would allow parents to lie about their kids’ ages to get them jobs.
Gizmodo
April 20, 2023
Between 2001 and 2021, the share of 16- to 19-year-olds not working increased by 22.4 percentage points, according to an analysis of federal data by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
Governing
April 20, 2023
“It’s the perfect storm of a few different developments that the pandemic has brought to bear,” says Dave Kamper, a senior policy coordinator with the Economic Policy Institute. “One is that inequality is even more obvious than it’s ever been. The CEO pay gap is higher now than it’s ever been.”
NPR
April 20, 2023
“Far too often working families are robbed of their hard-earned tax refunds by unscrupulous private tax preparers,” said David Kass, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “Passing the Tax Refund Protection Act is a critical step in ensuring that Americans receive their full tax benefit through increased transparency and accountability from tax preparers.”
The bill is endorsed by Americans for Tax Fairness, Consumer Action, the Economic Policy Institute, and Prosperity Now.
Sen. Cory Booker
April 20, 2023
Episode locked. Features Jen discussing child labor violations.
All in with Chris Hayes
April 20, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, these discriminatory practices continue to affect not only Black Wisconsinites but all Wisconsinites of color to this day. The state and local governments are responsible for correcting these wrongs, particularly because the government perpetuated — and partially still perpetuates — this history of racial discrimination.
The Badger Herald
April 20, 2023
These are not isolated events. A March 2023 report by the Economic Policy Institute identified over 600 active Labor Department investigations into violations of child labor laws — described in some cases as “systemic” — against a backdrop of an over 283 percent increase in child labor employment between 2015 and 2022. Arkansas is just one of 10 states where bills have been enacted or introduced to lift a variety of restrictions on children’s employment, often at ages and in jobs long considered hazardous to their health and development, undercutting protections that have been in place at the federal level since Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.
The Washington Post
April 20, 2023
“Weak recoveries churn out racial inequality and lost opportunity,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The Washington Post
April 14, 2023
In Georgia, the unemployment rate for Black workers is also higher than the overall rate. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the most recent figures available, the Black unemployment rate in Georgia was 5.1% according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank that specializes in labor and wage issues, better than the national rate at the time. The jobless rate for all Georgians was 3.1% at the end of the year.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
April 14, 2023