Media clips

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• October 14, 2022
  October 14, 2022
• 6 Risks You Face If You Retire in a Recession

  The problem is that both the Great Recession and the pandemic showed that employment outcomes tend to be much worse for older employees — particularly part-time workers — during economic downturns. Steep job losses and high unemployment are hallmarks of recessions, and according to reports from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and the Economic Policy Institute, older part-time workers are often the first to lose their jobs when businesses cut back during lean times.

  Nasdaq October 14, 2022
• Lowe’s Workers in New Orleans Petition to Form Company’s First-Ever Union

  Data shows that workers at Lowe’s Home Improvement stores are often paid low wages. According to the Economic Policy Institute, about half of Lowe’s workers are paid less than $15 an hour. Other research has found that, in 2020, the median salary for full time retail workers at the chain was a mere $24,000, or only about $11.50 an hour.

  Truthout October 14, 2022
• How the gig economy could change as the nature of work evolves

  A survey from the Economic Policy Institute from June of this year reported that about 1 in 7 gig workers said they earned less than the hourly federal minimum wage, and about 1 in 5 have gone hungry because they didn’t make enough money to eat regularly.

  Marketplace October 14, 2022
• CEO Pay Has Soared by Nearly 1,500% Since 1978, While Workers Have Been Left Behind

  Between 1978 and 2021, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), CEO compensation at the 350 largest publicly traded U.S. companies rose by an inflation-adjusted 1,460%, far outstripping the 18.1% pay increase that the nation’s typical worker saw during that period.

  The trend of soaring CEO pay has continued during the coronavirus pandemic, which caused mass economic chaos and job loss among ordinary workers. EPI found that ​“while millions lost jobs in the first year of the pandemic and suffered real wage declines due to inflation in the second year, CEOs’ realized compensation jumped 30.3% between 2019 and 2021.”

  “Typical worker compensation among those who remained employed rose 3.9% over the same time span,” note EPI’s Josh Bivens and Jori Kandra, the authors of the new report.

  Bivens and Kandra write in their new analysis that the chief executive pay surge in recent decades is not the ​“result of a competitive market for talent but rather reflect[s] the power of CEOs to extract concessions.”

  In 2021, the CEOs of top U.S. companies raked in nearly 400 times more pay than the typical worker.

  “Some observers argue that exorbitant CEO compensation is merely a symbolic issue, with no consequences for the vast majority of workers,” Bivens and Kandra note. ​“However, the escalation of CEO compensation, and of executive compensation more generally, has fueled the growth of top 1% and top 0.1% incomes, generating widespread inequality.”

  Bivens and Kandra write in their new analysis that the chief executive pay surge in recent decades is not the ​“result of a competitive market for talent but rather reflect[s] the power of CEOs to extract concessions.”

  In 2021, the CEOs of top U.S. companies raked in nearly 400 times more pay than the typical worker.

  “Some observers argue that exorbitant CEO compensation is merely a symbolic issue, with no consequences for the vast majority of workers,” Bivens and Kandra note. ​“However, the escalation of CEO compensation, and of executive compensation more generally, has fueled the growth of top 1% and top 0.1% incomes, generating widespread inequality.”

  “Another option,” Bivens and Kandra write, ​“is to set corporate tax rates higher for firms that have higher ratios of CEO-to-worker compensation,” an idea proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in his 2021 Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act.

  In These Times October 14, 2022
• Cheers for Social Security’s Cost-of-Living Adjustment

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median savings of American workers, including plans such as 401(k)s, was just $60,000. For the 40 percent of Americans aged 60–69 who even have a 401(k), the median holding is about $82,000. But that is enough for maybe six or seven years, while the average life expectancy for a 65-year-old is 18.2 years for men and just under 20 years for women.

  American Prospect October 12, 2022
• Where Is the Minimum Wage Going Up in 2023?

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, 30 of America’s 50 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted minimum wages that are higher than the federal standard. That leaves 20 where employers are still allowed to pay their workers as little as $7.25 an hour. Five of them — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee — have no minimum wage at all. Two others — Georgia and Wyoming — still have their minimum wages set at $5.15 an hour. In all seven of those states, the federal threshold of $7.25 applies.

  Yahoo Finance October 12, 2022
• Uber, Lyft stock decimated as US aims to classify gig workers as staff

  A study published in June by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, found, “about 1 in 7 gig workers (14 percent) earned less than the federal minimum wage on an hourly basis and more than a quarter (29 percent) earned less than the state minimum wage.”

  The Register October 12, 2022
• Ron Johnson Suggests That Federal Minimum Wage Should Be Eliminated

  Notably, one in seven gig workers, or people working for companies like Uber and DoorDash, are making less than the federal minimum wage, the Economic Policy Institute found earlier this year. Corporations are allowed to exploit the fact that such workers aren’t classified as employees in order to not guarantee a minimum wage or provide benefits. The fact that these jobs exist and are still staffed is evidence that Johnson’s bad faith claim that wages would rise if there were fewer wage regulations is blatantly untrue.

  Truthout October 12, 2022
• Here’s what a new Biden administration labor proposal would mean for independent contractors

  Ten states apply that test to wage and hour benefits, though some only for workers in certain industries such as construction and landscaping, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC October 12, 2022