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
“Hitting the debt ceiling is terrible, and making a deal that hamstrings our economy is also terrible,” said Heidi Shierholz, the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.
Wall Street Journal
February 17, 2023
But nothing says “esteem” more directly than paychecks, and, by that metric, American society has for years been systematically devaluing the work teachers do. Between 1996 and 2021, the Economic Policy Institute’s Sylvia Allegretto detailed last August, average teacher weekly wages adjusted for inflation rose a miniscule $29. Over the same years, inflation-adjusted weekly wages for other college graduates rose over 15 times faster, up $445.
Inequality.org
February 17, 2023
It’s against the law for companies to retaliate against workers who are trying to organize unions—but that often doesn’t stop them from doing so. According to recent research from the Economic Policy Institute, employers were charged with illegally firing workers in 24% of all union elections. That research uses the “most comprehensive measure of firings,” according to EPI, and comes from data from the NLRB between 2019 and 2022, as well as unfair labor practice filings from 2018 through 2022.
Fast Company
February 17, 2023
Advocates and experts also point to expanded access to no or low-cost early childhood education as a solution that not only benefits children but parents and the economy as a whole. Colorado ranks eighth in the country for most expensive child care, with an average annual cost of $15,325, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Rocky Mountain PBS
February 17, 2023