Yet, despite the vital role public schools play in the education of future generations of Americans, the national public school system faces a myriad of problems in “equity, adequacy, effort, and sufficiency,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. Despite these issues, however, public school enrollment has, on average, increased from figures 10 years ago.
LI Herald
March 31, 2023
Seventeen years ago, Yale University political scientist Jacob Hacker outlined a proposal he’d come up with for an agenda that the Economic Policy Institute was publishing for the next president—assuming that president was a Democrat. Hacker (who is now a Prospect board member) was proposing that the government create a “public option” for health insurance, under which Americans not yet eligible for Medicare could purchase a health insurance plan, equivalent to that provided by Medicare, from the government. As public-option plans didn’t have to deliver profits such as those that enriched major investors in private plans, they would be cheaper than their private competitors. And, by the logic of the market, they’d compel those private competitors to bring down their prices if they wanted to stay in business.
American Prospect
March 31, 2023
Contrary to the name, right-to-work laws make it “harder for workers’ organizations to sustain themselves financially” and “aim to undermine unions’ bargaining strength,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The USA Today
March 31, 2023
“The entire increase in unionization in 2022 was among workers of color—workers of color saw an increase of 231,000, while white workers saw a decrease of 31,000,” wrote the Economic Policy Institute in a press release in February. “Of all major racial and ethnic groups, Black workers continue to have the highest unionization rates, at 12.8%. This compares with 11.2% for white workers, 10.0% for Latinx workers, and 9.2% for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers”.
Payday Reports
March 31, 2023
“We don’t really have pensions anymore,” Kyle Moore, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, previously told theGrio. In discussing how higher interest rates disproportionately affect prospective Black home buyers, Moore said, “401k’s are so risky. The stock market is risky. Homeownership has been that consistent, reliable method of building wealth.”
The Grio
March 31, 2023
March 15 was Equal Pay Day in the United States; however, not a lot has been done to close the gender pay gap in the last three decades, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The Wright State Guardian
March 31, 2023
The legislation is also supported by organizations, including: The National Immigration Law Center (NILC); Jobs with Justice; Economic Policy Institute; National Employment Law Project (NELP); Tulane Immigrant Rights Clinic; AFL-CIO; and SEIU.
Office of Congressman Bobby Scott
March 31, 2023
In a September survey from Bankrate.com, more than half of respondents said that their incomes hadn’t kept up with rising household expenses amid persistent high inflation. A report from the Economic Policy Institute, meanwhile, found that, as of June 2022, 14% of gig workers in the U.S. earned less than the federal minimum wage and that 26% earned less than $10 per hour.
Tech Crunch
March 31, 2023
The upshot is that about 85% of U.S. workers today make $15 an hour or more, according to the Economic Policy Institute. When the Fight for $15 was getting off the ground, fewer than 60% did.
Fast Company
March 31, 2023