Media clips

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• Fed Issues Another Big Rate Hike. What Inflation and Higher Interest Rates Mean for You

  But the reduction in supply was met with increased demand as Americans started purchasing durable goods to replace the services they used prior to the pandemic, said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute. “The pandemic put distortions on both the demand and supply side of the US economy,” Bivens said. 

  CNET September 23, 2022
• Workers are changing jobs and getting raises, and still struggling financially

  Dynamism can be defined as change, advancement and a restless entrepreneurial spirit, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute.

  Ever since the Great Recession and the mass layoffs of 2008, workers grew security-oriented, hanging onto jobs and staying put, Shierholz said.

  NPR September 23, 2022
• Five actions we can take now for our kids, our teachers, and our schools

  Here are five critical actions to take today:

  1. End the teacher pay penalty:Raise base teacher pay by 24.5%. That is the difference when you compare teacher salaries to non-teacher college graduates, calculated by the Economic Policy Institute. We should address this immediately to support current and future teachers. For a beginning teacher, this would increase pay from $37,000 to $46,065. It would move the state from being in the bottom 10 to the top 20 states in terms of beginning teacher pay. It would make us No. 1 in the South and help to reduce the flow of teachers to other states, and ideally attract teachers to North Carolina.
  EdNC September 23, 2022
• US Federal Reserve ups interest rates by 75 basis points

  Despite the fact that higher interest rates are supposed to limit intra-bank loans and thus create new money, the Economic Policy Institute found in an April study that corporate profits accounted in the last two years for 54% of inflation in the US. This means that the problem is price speculation, not overeager lenders.

  Al Mayadeen English September 23, 2022
• Links between stimulus checks and inflation

  While stimulus checks did increase consumer spending in 2020 and 2021, other experts have noted that inflation is a global issue, and is occurring in countries that didn’t send out stimulus checks.

  Josh Bivens, director of research for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told NPR that corporate profits have contributed to increasing prices at least as much as stimulus checks.

  There’s been an acceleration of core inflation across every advanced economy, even the ones that did very, very little fiscal relief,” he said.

  “And so I think the evidence linking specific Biden-era policies to the surge in inflation is just really, really weak.”

  The Sun September 23, 2022
• Gavel to Gavel: Tesla decision affirms rights to wear union insignia

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on U.S. workers, employers are charged with violating federal law in 41.5% of all union election campaigns. While Sections 7 & 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act clearly enumerate the rights of workers to unionize and identifies employer illegal interference, NLRB law on what constitutes an unfair labor practice is extensive and evolving.

  The Journal Record September 23, 2022
• Philadelphia Home Depot Workers File to Form Company’s First Ever Retail Union

  By contrast, per the Economic Policy Institute, 42 percent of Home Depot workers make less than $15 an hour, or $31,000 a year for a full-time worker. Most of its workers — 68 percent — make between $12 and $18 an hour, close to or below the city’s $17.87 living wage for a single worker with no kids, as calculated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.

  Truthout September 23, 2022
• Traditional University Teacher Ed Programs Face Enrollment Declines, Staff Cuts

  Top of mind for many contemplating the career amid a recession is compensation. Teachers’ weekly wages have remained relatively flat for 25 years; and educators earn about 24% less than peer grads, according to an August Economic Policy Institute report that looks at wages through 2021. 

  The 74 September 23, 2022
• How remote work can be a practical bridge for the gender pay gap

  But part-time work doesn’t just reduce your earnings in proportion to full-time work. Part-time positions tend to pay nearly 30% less per hour than equivalent full-time roles, according to a report published by the Economic Policy Institute. That has a ripple effect on finances—whether that be emergency funds, retirement contributions, or overall financial security. Part-time work can also potentially stall women’s career trajectories.

  Fast Company September 23, 2022
• When overtime isn’t optional

  Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Department of Labor, noted that even when workers are getting time and a half, their base pay is so low, it can be worth it for their employers to force them into working extra instead of bringing on others to staff up. “Time and a half was really supposed to make it so employers had skin in the game and wouldn’t have absurdly regular very long hours for workers, but the fact that for so many workers pay is so low … if you’re an employer, you can game it out,” she said. If you’re paying someone $8 an hour, $12 an hour for some extra hours a week doesn’t hurt as much as, say, $15 that would suddenly become $22.50.

  Still, many workers are stuck in situations they’d rather not be in; if they want to keep their jobs, they don’t have the option of not working extra hours when their boss says they have to. “We have employment law that is so profoundly anti-worker,” Shierholz said.

  Shierholz said unions are a good place to start in addressing workplace flexibility, including forced overtime, but she emphasized that even unionized employees have to deal with the issue — as is the case with Hall and so many workers like him. Unions are able to fight for parameters, but there are no guarantees they’ll get them. “It’s not like unionized workers never have to work forced overtime, but they will have some control over those kinds of employment conditions,” she said.

  VOX September 23, 2022