As a group, Black workers are paid less than white workers, earning 76 cents to every $1 earned by white Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In Maine, Black workers earn only 63 percent of what white workers make.
The gap is larger now than it was 40 years ago, and it can’t be explained by differences in education and skills, the Economic Policy Institute concluded in a recent analysis.
Black Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed than white Americans. The disparity is a little smaller in Maine.
Bangor Daily News
August 25, 2023
But as they talk about inflation and the economy in the abstract, residents of the popular vacation destination are very much feeling the realities of their policies. That’s because Jackson Hole is the most economically unequal place in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNN Business
August 25, 2023
Other economic disparities have also persisted into the present day. Among Americans who are employed, research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) showed the typical Black worker made more than 24 percent less than their white counterparts per hour in 2019 — a figure the group noted was about 8 percentage points higher than it was four decades earlier.
The Hill
August 25, 2023
KALW San Francisco
August 25, 2023
Along with helping people nationally, the bill would provide significant benefits for workers in Maine, according to a fact sheet released Tuesday by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. EPI examined the impacts the legislation would have in congressional districts around the country.
In Maine’s 1st Congressional District, based in the southern part of the state, the measure would boost the wages of about 50,000 people, or around 15.8% of those employed. The bill would add $70 million in total annual wages for workers in that district.
Maine Beacon
August 25, 2023
Wisconsin is one of 14 states where lawmakers have proposed rolling back child labor laws over the last two years, according to the Economic Policy Institute. State lawmakers also introduced a bill earlier this year that would allow 14- to 17-year-olds to serve alcohol.
Wisconsin Public Radio
August 25, 2023
We can’t in good conscience support this merger unless we have ironclad guarantees that middle-class jobs will not be jeopardized. Without such guarantees, the Kroger-Albertsons deal could cost American workers more than $300 million annually, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Bakersfield Californian
August 25, 2023
- Twice as many gig workers used Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program benefits compared to W-2 service-sector workers, according to a survey from Economic Policy Institute.
Tech Target
August 25, 2023
Colorado State Treasurer David Young joined treasurers from multiple states in opposing a merger between grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition.
“We believe that this merger may have significant adverse effects on the financial well-being of the people of our states,” the letter reads. “We respectfully request that the Federal Trade Commission oppose this merger”
Young was joined by treasurers from Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington. Kroger owns King Soopers, while Albertsons owns Safeway. Both are popular grocery chains in Colorado.
The seven states noted wages as their primary concern, citing a study by the Economic Policy Institute that found the merger could result in $334 million in lost wages for 746,000 grocery store workers in 50 metro areas across the country. That would equal an average wage decrease of about $450 per year per worker, according to the study.
Colorado Public Radio
August 25, 2023
The Labor Department concluded or resolved a record-low number of wage and hour investigations on farms in fiscal 2022, continuing a yearslong decline, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Staffing and funding are likely to blame, the left-leaning institute said, along with factors related to the expansion of the H-2A temporary farmworker program.
The Biden administration has found fewer back wages owed to farmworkers than the Trump administration, EPI said; however, it has levied more civil money penalties.
“Efforts to protect farmworkers have slid backward, with the number of investigations falling even further behind the already record-low levels during the Trump administration, likely due to the Wage and Hour Division being too underfunded and understaffed for the size of the task at hand,” Daniel Costa, one of the report authors, said in a press release.
Politico Pro
August 25, 2023