Smaller grants were given to organizations that could be expected to produce content that supports NEA’s agenda. These included the Economic Policy Institute ($200,000), the Independent Media Institute ($50,000), The American Prospect ($25,000) and the Network for Public Education Fund ($25,000).
The 74
December 16, 2022
In a study of teachers’ salaries, Sylvia Allegretto, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, found a growing gap between the pay of all college graduates and teacher salaries from 1979 to 2021, with a sharp increase in the differential since 2010. In 1979, the average teacher weekly salary (in 2021 dollars) was $1,052, 22.9 percent less than other college graduates’, at $1,364. By 2010, teachers made $1,352 and other graduates made $1,811. By 2021, teachers made $1,348, 32.9 percent less than what other graduates made, at $2,009.
The New York Times
December 16, 2022
The Economic Policy Institute released a report on how the pandemic has exacerbated a long-standing national shortage of teachers.
It acknowledges that there’s always been a pre-existing shortage of teachers. It is especially severe in schools with high shares of students of color or students from low-income families.
The reports said a shortage is not a function of an inadequate number of qualified teachers in the U.S. economy. Simply, there are too few qualified teachers willing to work at current compensation levels given the increasingly stressful environment.
To end the teacher shortage, the institute said state leaders must address the two most pressing reasons for the shortage: the long-standing decline in the pay of teachers relative to other workers with a college degree and the high and increasing levels of stress public school teachers face.
WISH-TV
December 16, 2022
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which advocates for the needs of low- and middle-income workers, found in a non-peer-reviewed study that the relative pay gap nationwide has increased over the last 25 years between teachers and their similarly educated peers to about 14%, including benefits.
ABC 30
December 16, 2022
As the Director of Research of the Economic Policy Institute Josh Biven has stated, “…Inflation is largely a global, geopolitical phenomenon that is just not under the Biden administration’s control…”
Foundation for Economic Education
December 16, 2022
NEW YORK — Workers earning minimum wage in more than two dozen states can expect a raise in 2023. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the following states and Washington, D.C. are set to raise their minimum wage at various points through the new year.
ABC 7
December 16, 2022
Fewer options for parents have also led to higher costs in most areas, though prices vary wildly state to state. For example, while the average annual price of a full-time child care center for a toddler costs more than $24,000 in Washington, DC, it comes out to roughly $6,800 in Arkansas, according to a calculator made by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute. States like California and New York have some of the least affordable child care options, costing nearly half the median income for a single-parent family, according to a 2021 report from Child Care Aware of America. The same data reveals that in most regions of the US, annual child care costs for an infant are more expensive than housing, and usually exceed the cost of in-state public tuition at a four-year college.
CNET
December 16, 2022
Recent research suggests the pandemic has indeed worsened pre-existing teacher shortages nationwide, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A report released Dec. 6 by the left-leaning think tank points to stressful working conditions and low pay as reasons why there’s a lack of qualified teachers willing to work.
K-12 Dive
December 16, 2022
The closer a worker is to the government — and the older they are — the more likely they are to be unionized. About a third of public employees are unionized versus around 6 percent of private sector employees — about half of all employees covered under a union contract are in the public sector, while 16 percent are in manufacturing and 15 percent are in transportation or utilities, according to Economic Policy Institute (EPI) data.
Grid News
December 16, 2022
Wages are one of the biggest issues in the US. The data from Economic Policy Institute shows that while productivity has grown by 62.5% in the US during 1979-2021, wages in comparison have only grown by 16%. This linear growth in wages relative to exponential productivity growth can be explained in part by the fact that the percentage of unions has halved in the country in the past 40 years, as noted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Insider Monkey
December 16, 2022