Media clips

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• Here’s the difference between a ‘minimum wage’ and ‘living wage,’ and why it matters

  The federal minimum wage, which was last raised in 2009, stands at $7.25 an hour. When adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage last summer reached its lowest level since 1956, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found.

  ABC News January 13, 2023
• Non-agricultural guest workers see little justice and protection from predatory employers

  Legislators of states that rely more heavily on this workforce—led by Texas, Florida, Alaska, Louisiana, and Colorado—constantly demand increases to the number of H-2B visas, including Democrats, said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research of the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. For example, the program’s expansion has become a pet issue for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). 

  Prism Reports January 13, 2023
• Learning the Right Lessons From Recent Inflation

  Piece by Josh in the American Prospect on inflation.

  American Prospect January 13, 2023
• The FTC’s proposed noncompete ban could be a boon for lower-wage workers

  Nearly a third of private sector businesses that responded to a survey from the Economic Policy Institute require all of their employees to sign noncompetes, including a quarter of respondents that mostly employ high school graduates. “So it just is this surprisingly prevalent thing even among workers who are making very low wages,” said Heidi Shierholz with the EPI.

  Marketplace January 13, 2023
• January 13, 2023
  January 13, 2023
• Nearly 99% of US hourly workers earn more than the federal minimum wage

  “As wages have grown, fewer people are working at exactly the federal minimum wage, even if many are still paid $8, $9, or $10 an hour,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told Quartz. “As far as whether the minimum wage leads to better lives or fewer jobs I think the research is clear,” he added. “Minimum wage increases have not led to large job losses and instead have raised the earnings of the lowest paid workers.”

  Quartz January 13, 2023
• The FTC wants to ban companies from telling their employees they can’t work for competitors — and says it’ll help workers make $300 billion more a year

  Agreements are sometimes foisted upon low-wage workers, preventing them from jumping ship to a different restaurant or retail store offering higher pay. Among workplaces paying an average of less than $13 an hour, 29% have noncompetes for all workers, according to a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  Business Insider January 6, 2023
• FTC proposes rule for nationwide ban on noncompete clauses for workers

  Heidi Shierholz, the president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, praised the FTC’s proposed ban on noncompetes on Twitter, where she wrote, “The only source of power nonunionized workers have vis-à-vis their employers is their ability to quit and take a job elsewhere.” Shierholz added that noncompetes aren’t necessary for the protection of companies’ intellectual property and that they “reduce wages, keep workers from finding better opportunities, and reduce the formation of new firms.”

  Fox Business January 6, 2023
• The top 1% was the only group to see real wage gains from 2020 to 2021

  Inequality in the U.S. deepened in 2021, with the country’s top 0.1% experiencing a 18.5% jump in earnings from the previous year, according to a report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. 

  MarketWatch January 6, 2023
• Your boss will no longer be able to make you sign noncompete agreements — if federal regulators have their way

  In 2019, one estimate from researchers at Cornell University and the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said between one-quarter and nearly half of all private-sector workers had signed a noncompete agreement.

  MarketWatch January 6, 2023