“It’s a really troubling moment right now,” said Jennifer Sherer of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “We should be strengthening the system, including making sure that the permitting and the permissions and the vetting are stronger, not weaker.”
Bloomberg Law
March 24, 2023
Between 2019 and 2022, the lowest-paid saw their real income grow 9%, according to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. Even accounting for inflation, income for workers in the bottom 10% grew faster than in any recovery since 1979.
“It’s incredibly unusual how well they did,” said Elise Gould, EPI senior economist and one of the report’s authors.
CBS Moneywatch
March 24, 2023
States across the country are attempting to weaken child labor protections, just as violations of these standards are rising, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The group issued a report this week that identifies 10 states as introducing or passing bills weakening child labor standards in the past two years alone.
Route Fifty
March 24, 2023
“I think it’s a sign of the times,” said Jennifer Sherer, a senior state policy coordinator for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “It is a sign of how stark extreme inequality has become, how aware the majority of workers and voters are of how unequal our economy and unequal our power is distributed in our workplaces right now.
“It’s a sign of the growing interest in reviving unions, and an acknowledgement of their really important role that they play in leveling the playing field and rebalancing that power.”
Michigan Advance
March 24, 2023
Contracts ratified last year called for first-year wage raises averaging 5.7%, the review of 817 deals showed. That marks a significant jump over the 3.7% average first-year increase in agreements ratified in 2021, and the highest average rate in more than 30 years.
Features quote from Celine (paywall).
Bloomberg Law
March 24, 2023
According to an important new report from the Economic Policy Institute, or EPI, at least 10 states have introduced bills weakening child labor protections during the past two years, and four have enacted them—New Hampshire, Arkansas, New Jersey, and (here’s one I missed) Iowa, which last year lowered (from 18 to 16) the minimum age for workers in childcare centers. The EPI report also said that the number of child labor violations has nearly quadrupled since 2015, from 1,012 to 3,876.
The New Republic
March 24, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute—which has come to similar data-driven conclusions as the aforementioned paper—Michigan’s reversal of the GOP’s anti-union statute would be “the first time a state has repealed a RTW law in nearly 60 years.” The victory is all the more significant because of the state’s historic position as having had “the highest unionization rate in the country” and correspondingly high median wages before Republicans passed an RTW law in 2012. But in the past decade, unionization rates and wages both fell in Michigan. In other words, the state’s RTW law had its intended result.
LA Progressive
March 24, 2023
Stalling negotiations is just one union-busting tactic many companies use to disengage and deflate unions and workers. The Economic Policy Institute states that in 2019, nearly 45% of employers were charged with breaking federal laws against unions.
Retriever
March 24, 2023
Studies show that workers suffer economically in states ruled by right-to-work laws. They lead to greater economic inequality in highly unionized areas by blunting the power of labor unions, per a 2020 study. An Economic Policy Institute study from 2015 found that wages in right-to-work states were 3.1 percent lower than in non-right-to-work states.
Talking Points Memo
March 24, 2023
Others work because they can’t afford retirement. According to the Economic Policy Institute, roughly one-third of workers aged 55 to 64 don’t have access to a retirement savings plan. Those who rely solely on Social Security benefits may find they don’t cover all of their living expenses. Major unplanned expenses like medical bills can also keep people in the workforce.
Chippewa
March 24, 2023