Eight states and Washington, D.C., have workers’ rights units within their AG offices. Of those, six were started in the last five years, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. The units have taken on cases that helped workers gain safer conditions at work during the pandemic, recover stolen wages and argue against being as independent contractors instead of employees — which often denies them benefits and increases their income tax burden.
Houston Chronicle
October 28, 2022
The Virginia Mercury previously cited a 2019 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute that ranked Virginia last in the country in terms of the “teacher wage penalty,” referring to the gap in weekly salaries between teachers and other college-educated professionals. Business.org this year ranked Virginia 49th (behind Arizona and Washington, D.C.) when comparing the average salary of teachers to the average salary for all jobs in the state.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
October 28, 2022
Economists use an “employment multiplier” to calculate the number of indirect jobs supported by a worker, and according to the independent Economic Policy Institute, mining has an employment multiplier of 3.9, meaning this state’s 20,800 mining and logging jobs (piled together again for convenience’s sake) may support 81,120 other jobs, for a total of 101,920. That’s not inconsequential, but it’s also not 134,000.
Capital and Main
October 28, 2022
The plaintiffs suing Domino’s accuse the company of stealing their wages, failing to reimburse them for expenses and other labor code violations, according to their lawyers. If they are compelled to settle their dispute in private arbitration, the workers are less likely to win their case. Numerous studies show that workers “win less often and receive much lower damages” in mandatory arbitration than in court, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
One study found “employees in mandatory arbitration winning only just about a fifth of the time (21.4 percent), which is 59 percent as often as in the federal courts and only 38 percent as often as in state courts … with the median or typical award in mandatory arbitration being only 21 percent of the median award in the federal courts and 43 percent of the median award in the state courts,” according to EPI.
Truthout
October 28, 2022
Iowa’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has been in place since 2007. According to the Economic Policy Institute, over 463,000 Iowans would earn more if the minimum wage were increased to $15 per hour. Currently, 30 states have raised their minimum wage to $9.00 or above. This includes five of our neighboring states, only Wisconsin has a minimum wage of $7.25.
KWQC
October 28, 2022
Mecklenburg is the most unequal county in North Carolina as the top 1% make more than 30 times the bottom 99%, data from the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute show.
Charlotte Observer
October 28, 2022
Porter held a chart with statistics from the Economic Policy Institute and asked:
“According to this chart, what is the biggest driver of inflation during this pandemic… during this recent period?”
“It would be corporate profits,” Konczal said.
“And what is that percentage?” Porter asked.
Daily Kos
October 28, 2022
Income inequality has worsened in Massachusetts, the eighth-most income unequal state, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In the last 10 years, the income of the poorest 20% of earners declined 5.3%; the middle 20% increased 44.6%; and the richest 20% expanded 103%. By increasing funding for education and transportation, Fair Share, which affects less than 1% of taxpayers, will help those falling further behind while imposing a small tax on households increasingly prospering.
Ipswich Local News
October 28, 2022
When employers have more power, it is easier for them to retaliate against staffers who try to organize, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Washington. Workers tend to be more emboldened to unionize during periods of low unemployment and high job availability, she said. “The consequences of taking the risk to unionize are lower if lots of jobs are available,” Shierholz said.
The Washington Post
October 28, 2022