Bernstein also has a reputation for accommodative, progressive economic policy. In his past work at the Economic Policy Institute and in the Clinton and Obama administrations, has has focused on labor markets, income inequality and concerns about the U.S. middle class.
Investopedia
February 17, 2023
According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, more than $3 billion in stolen wages were recovered for U.S. workers between 2017 and 2020—a fraction of the $50 billion EPI says is stolen by employers each year. By contrast, the FBI said the total value of all 267,988 reported U.S. robberies in 2019 was around $482 million.
Common Dreams
February 17, 2023
Bernstein, who played in jazz bands and worked as a social worker in New York City before getting a doctorate, has long supported progressive economic policy. He served in former President Bill Clinton’s Labor Department and then as Biden’s chief economist when Biden was vice president.
At the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington think tank, he wrote and testified to Congress on the shrinking U.S. middle class, a bedrock Biden theme.
Reuters
February 17, 2023
In reviewing the numbers, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that, adjusting for inflation, CEO pay increased by 1,322.2% between 1978 and 2020. That translates to growth roughly 60% faster than stock market investments. Even during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions lost their jobs, CEO compensation jumped by just shy of 19%.
Motley Fool
February 17, 2023
From the end of World War II until the late 1970s, according to the Economic Policy Institute, increased productivity and increased pay for workers ran
roughly parallel. Since then, the measures have parted ways. Between 1979 and 2020, worker net productivity increased by 61.8 percent, while worker hourly pay increased by just 17.5 percent. What happened? “Starting in the late 1970s, policymakers began dismantling all the policy bulwarks helping to ensure that typical workers’ wages grew with productivity,” explain the analysts at the EPI. “Excess unemployment was tolerated to keep any chance of inflation in check. Raises in the federal minimum wage became smaller and rarer. Labor law failed to keep pace with growing employer hostility toward unions. Tax rates on top incomes were lowered. And anti-worker deregulatory pushes—from the deregulation of the trucking and airline industries to the retreat of anti-trust policy to the dismantling of financial regulations and more—succeeded again and again.” Instead of increased productivity translating into increased pay and shorter workweeks, Wall Street investors made off with the cash in one of the biggest heists in the history of the American economy.
The Nation
February 17, 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of infant care in Texas in 2022 is about $9,324, or $777 per month. The average cost for a four-year-old is $7,062, or $589 a month.
Jacksonville Progress
February 17, 2023
It’s a practice that employers have repeated during subsequent economic downturns, Heidi Shierholz, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Business Insider
February 17, 2023
Teachers here in Nevada and across the nation consistently cite a lack of administrative support as a major driver of burnout. According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of teachers nationwide do not agree that school administrators are strongly supportive or encouraging. And more than two-thirds of teachers surveyed do not strongly agree that staff members are recognized for a job well done.
The Nevada Independent
February 17, 2023
Other studies have suggested potential improvements to high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates among students enrolled at voucher schools. At first glance, many would likely see this as beneficial. However, closer review by the Economic Policy Institute explains that overall high school graduation rates have steadily increased over the past decade, and they have done so at rates higher than those estimated among students participating in voucher programs.
The Post and Courier
February 17, 2023
In the Working Economics Blog, Josh Bivens, of the Economic Policy Institute writes, “The debt limit needs to be abolished — either formally or effectively.” The overwhelming majority of rich nations don’t have a statutory debt limit. Bivens argues, “The debt limit measures nothing coherent and has no relationship to any serious measure of the economic burden imposed by the nation’s debt. It has as much relevance to the nation’s objective economic health as today’s horoscope.
Boulder Weekly
February 17, 2023