Employers spend over $400 million per year in “union avoidance” consultants, according to a recent study of US Department of Labor data by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. But the figure may actually be higher, as Amazon disclosed March 31 that it spent over $14 million in 2022 alone on such expenses, and Starbucks—which also is experiencing high organizing activity—has yet to reveal how much it spends on consultants.
Bloomberg Law
April 14, 2023
Quite the contrary. Despite employers’ claims that the H-2A program is too “expensive” and “bureaucratically complex,” the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reports that American employers prefer to utilize the H-2A program over hiring U.S. workers because they see foreign workers as “exploitable.” The H-2A program has exploded over the last decade, but increased growth has not translated to increased resources to the DOL, the agency primarily responsible for overseeing the program. According to EPI, the government’s woefully inadequate oversight allows “frequent and extreme” violators of H-2A regulations to continue hiring guest workers with impunity.
Prism Reports
April 14, 2023
Contrary to the name, RTW laws don’t guarantee a right to job. What they do is allow “freeloaders” to take advantage of union-won benefits without have to pay a penny to support the union’s efforts. A RTW law simply aims “to undermine unions’ bargaining strength” by making it harder for unions to sustain themselves financially, notes the Economic Policy Institute.
St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune
April 14, 2023
Features interview with Heidi Shierholz.
Bloomberg TV
April 14, 2023
Jennifer Sherer, who published a report for the non-profit, left-leaning Economic Policy Institute with Nina Mast tracking states rolling back child labor laws, said in an interview that some industry groups have different interests when it comes to child labor laws, but they share a common desire to ease restrictions.
States Newsroom
April 14, 2023
And despite the Black unemployment rate tumbling to a new low, Heidi Shierholz, president of the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist of the US Department of Labor, said on Twitter to “make no mistake” that the rate “is still too high.”
“Due to the impact of structural racism on the labor market,” she wrote, Black workers as well as Hispanic workers “have much higher” rates than for white workers. “But the strength of this recovery has led to progress on reducing racial employment gaps,” she wrote.
Business Insider
April 14, 2023
In a 2019 report by the Economic Policy Institute, half of teachers surveyed reported “not feeling a great deal of support or encouragement” from administrators, and more than 70 percent reported “not having much control or influence on selecting the content, topics, and skills they will be teaching in their classrooms.” And that was before the pandemic.
Education Week
April 14, 2023
The pandemic has brought many economic challenges but also some good news for low-wage workers. Their hourly wages adjusted for inflation grew 9% during the pandemic.
That’s according to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank focusing on low- and middle-income workers. Here & Now‘s Scott Tong hears from Elise Gould, a senior economist at the institute. She’s a co-author of the study.
WBUR Here and Now
April 14, 2023
When it comes to the health of the economy overall, the jobs report also doesn’t point to a recession in the near term, experts tell Vox. “There are just no signs of recession to me in this report. It’s very strong,” says Heidi Shierholz, the president of the Economic Policy Institute.
Overall, the jobs report signals that there is some cooling in the economy, but that key factors like unemployment remain in a solid place. “We are seeing clear slowing from the absolutely mind-boggling fast job growth that we had been seeing a year ago,” says Shierholz. “But it is still very strong. It is cooling but strong.”
VOX
April 14, 2023