Meanwhile, a growing number of state lawmakers are proposing and passing legislation that loosens state restrictions on employing teen workers, according to findings by the worker advocacy group Economic Policy Institute.
HR Dive
June 9, 2023
While loss of income from unemployment can affect any household, it can create even more economic challenges for Black families, who are less likely to have savings or multiple people earning incomes, said Valerie Wilson, the director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.
“That level of economic insecurity, I think, feeds into the more harmful impact of a job loss when you don’t have another earner in your household income,” Wilson said. “And then if there are not sufficient savings to sort of fill in that loss of income until someone can find a job.”
NBC News
June 9, 2023
One argument from the left – including figures like Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute – is that the effects were profound, with the Budget Control Act of 2011 “largely responsible for the sluggish recovery” from a recession triggered by the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
The effects this time around aren’t likely to be that pronounced, largely because the 2011 law implemented discretionary spending caps that were enforceable for an entire decade. This year’s version has caps — but ones that become much less strict after just two years and could end up cutting deficits by far less than $1.5 trillion.
Yahoo Finance
June 9, 2023
The Economic Policy Institute notes that Black Americans are just over half as likely as white Americans to have a college degree. Yet college degrees are key drivers of social mobility, helping those who need it find a path out of poverty.
LA Times
June 9, 2023
Black and Hispanic workers, for example, are less likely to work from home regardless of educational attainment, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Wisconsin Public Radio
June 9, 2023
Education plays a key part in the fight against forced arbitration and NDAs. Fifty-six percent of all nonunion private sector employees are covered by mandatory arbitration agreements, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. The practice may be widespread, but most workers have no idea they’ve signed their rights away, Carlson said.
HR Dive
June 9, 2023
The United States is an outlier among industrialized nations when it comes to subsidizing child care, spending just 0.2% of its gross domestic product on child care for children 2 and under, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Today Show
June 9, 2023
Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, said farmworkers often earn at or near poverty levels, even for working “one of the most dangerous and difficult jobs” on the market. He cited his research that showed a salary increase of 40 percent for farmworkers would mean average spending on produce would rise “by only $25 per year.”
Politico
June 9, 2023
Williams started at $8 an hour, and a 2021 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that 92 percent of the company’s employees made less than $15 an hour; 22 percent made less than $10 an hour. The company is currently the United States’ fastest-growing retailer, opening around one thousand stores a year and employing more than 170,000 people.
Jacobin
June 9, 2023
In March, the unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24, who are already benefiting from pre-pandemic labor market conditions, marked a 70-year low at 7.5%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In April, it dipped further for that age group, to 6.5%.
June 9, 2023