Media clips

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• Older Workers Are Stuck in Tough, Risky Jobs

  A slight majority of Americans over the age of 50 now report having physically demanding jobs, meaning they feel their work is either physically taxing, stress-inducing or outright dangerous.

  In fact, according to a major new analysis and accompanying chart book published by the Economic Policy Institute, some 50.3% of older workers say they have physically demanding jobs, while an even larger majority (54.2%) of older workers report being exposed to unhealthy or hazardous conditions at work.

  Think Advisor May 19, 2023
• Kroger, Albertsons merger backlash intensifies with opposition from consumer group

  Then there was the report from the Economic Policy Institute which revealed workers at Kroger and Albertsons, and other grocery stores, could lose a total of over $330 million annually if the deal goes through. 

  Kroger immediately dismissed the claim, stating the following in a email to Supermarket News:

  Supermarket News May 19, 2023
• Kroger CEO issues major update about future of supermarket chain after closure plans – and shoppers are not happy

  Also, the nonprofit organization Economic Policy Institute spoke out against the merger and said workers stand to lose more than a combined $300million a year if the deal goes through.

  It would lower wages for 746,000 grocery employees, according to the research.

  The U.S. Sun May 19, 2023
• Worker Advocates Take Aim at Restaurant Industry Support for Loosening Child-Labor Laws

  Paywall.

  Barron’s May 19, 2023
• Kroger-Albertsons merger could hurt grocery store workers’ wages, new economic report finds

  A report from the Economic Policy Institute reveals the deal could lead to lower grocery store employee wages.

  The report finds the merger could lower wages for over 746,000 grocery store workers in about 50 cities across the country. The total annual loss of wages would be $334 million or an average loss of about $450 per year in wages for workers.

  Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, attributes the loss to the increasing trend of concentration among grocery store chains. This trend has led to a decrease in competition, which has allowed grocery store chains to raise prices and reduce wages.

  “They will have fewer options. They have or will have less leverage in negotiating, better pay, better working conditions and so forth,” Zipperer said. “And so what that means is that wages tend to get depressed in those kinds of markets where there’s a lot of employer concentration.”

  WYSO May 19, 2023
• Older Workers Need Employer, Govt Support to Retire, Experts Say

  Older workers should be given the choice to continue working or transition to retirement, experts said in a webinar hosted by the Economic Policy Institute, but often they are not given the decision-making power.

  Plan Sponsor May 19, 2023
• Our Farmworkers Deserve Better

  But farmworkers earn “far less than even some of the lowest-paid workers in the U.S. labor force,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. And the overwhelming majority of farm laborers in the United States are Latine, while more than 40% are undocumented.

  YES! Magazine May 19, 2023
• May 19, 2023
  May 19, 2023
• From Classroom to Campaign Trail

  What is feminist economics? A lot of people listening to this show, I think, probably don’t even know that such a discipline or subdiscipline exists. I didn’t know until a few years ago, but I started reading about it and started reading some of Nancy’s work and what she has to say is interesting to me because it fits into this broader category of talking about a new economic paradigm and changes in the economic profession that we have discussed on this show with other guests like Brian Deese, like Heidi Shierholz of Economic Policy Institute. And I think feminist economics in the way it challenges those neoclassical assumptions is an important part of this puzzle.

  New Republic May 18, 2023
• Working Longer ‘Not a Viable Solution’ to US Retirement Crisis, Economists Say

  “Millions of people are entering their retirement years with insufficient savings to cover basic expenses and medical bills,” the new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) notes. “In response, some policymakers have proposed that older Americans could delay retirement to increase their savings.”

  But this ostensible fix “overlooks the large group of older Americans who work in difficult conditions—ranging from the physically demanding to the outright dangerous,” EPI points out. “If older Americans endure difficult conditions that often force earlier exits from the workplace, proposals to delay retirement make little sense.”

  Common Dreams May 18, 2023