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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.
Virginia Mercury October 21, 2022 -
“We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country for African Americans,” said Kemp, which is true based on what has been reported by the Economic Policy Institute, but its map also shows many states that did not report Black unemployment figures. “We’re also in the top ten of the states for Black entrepreneurship in the state of Georgia…we will continue to work with all of those entrepreneurs in the days ahead and working class Georgians.”
BET October 21, 2022 -
If they pull a similar move in 2023, it could be similar to 2011, when the GOP manufactured a debt ceiling crisis that ultimately “led directly to the worst recovery following a recession since World War II,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Truthout October 21, 2022 -
“Over the past two decades, there has not been a single minimum wage ballot initiative that has failed, when eventually put to a vote,” Ben Zipperer, Economic Policy Institute economist, said in an email.
Bloomberg October 21, 2022 -
“In terms of things that would lower prices on store shelves, it’s pretty tough to act that quickly,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
Philadelphia Inquirer October 21, 2022 -
A third element was a long-overdue ideological shift in the Democratic Party, especially its presidential wing. Before Biden, economic advisers to Democratic presidents were free-traders, counseling that the nature and location of production was the proper business of the market, not the state. With Biden, voices long in the wilderness on industrial targeting, such as the labor movement, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Economic Policy Institute, have had the heady experience of actually influencing and making policy.
American Prospect October 21, 2022 -
Bottom line: Employers Could Be Quitting On Workers
There is a truth behind the idea of “quiet quitting,” but the truth is that employers are quitting on workers. The evidence points in the direction of workers feeling increased pressure and working too much instead of too little. The Economic Policy Institute has argued that “quiet fleecing” would be a better term.
Forbes October 21, 2022 -
According to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, Colorado teachers earn almost 36% less than other workers with college degrees, the widest such gap in the nation and a full 3 percentage points worse than the next closest state, Virgina. How would you help the state change this and boost salaries for Colorado educators?: Not all teachers work the same hours. According to the World Economic Forum, U.S. teachers spend 998 hours in the classroom per year. Teachers’ prep time and homework from students vary but add more hours. Teachers who work longer hours and produce better results should be rewarded. But the educational system is a monopoly and does not allow this flexibility. More solutions than this one-size-fits-all for rewarding teachers are needed. There is also disparity among teachers and other professions. Degrees in the (science, technology, engineering and math) area considered more rigorous than education degrees. Many times, teachers are teaching subjects they are not even trained to teach. Teachers are also told what to teach and how to teach it; this is vocational at best — becoming technicians rather than professionals. Our teachers should be given the autonomy to use their ingenuity to challenge all students to think, create, innovate. Change is needed in the Colorado public school system.
Daily Camera October 21, 2022 -
As the country deals with inflation and a looming recession, the economy is top of mind for Americans in the 2022 midterm elections. However, when researching candidates, it’s important to remember that policy makers did not cause inflation. Inflation was caused by global and public health issues, like supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19, port shutdowns, a shift of spending from services to goods, and the war in Ukraine. Knowing this, Economic Policy Institute(opens in new tab) President Heidi Shierholz advises voters to elect candidates based on their willingness to boost living standards and eliminate inequalities, which directly impacts the economy.
“[Elected] policy makers don’t have the ability to really affect inflation. They do have the ability to pass policies that ameliorate the harms of high inflation for the people who are hardest hit,” she says. “So things like raising the minimum wage, the expansions of the child tax credit which were in the relief and recovery packages(opens in new tab). Those are the kinds of things that policy makers can do for the people who are getting hit hardest by inflation until inflation comes down. And it is.”
Additionally, union organizing is at its highest point of approval since 1965(opens in new tab). State and local governments, not just the federal government, have the ability to build worker power(opens in new tab) (the Economic Policy Institute has outlined some of the ways(opens in new tab) they can do so). That starts with electing leaders in the midterms who can enact these policies.
Marie Claire October 21, 2022 -
In July 2021 President Joe Biden issued an executive order promoting competition in the economy that encouraged the Federal Trade Commission to impose a national ban or limit on noncompete agreements. The FTC held a workshop on noncompetes the following year. It isn’t clear how any FTC-imposed ban would be enforced. California has a law barring enforcement of noncompete agreements, but a 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that 45 percent of the state’s businesses maintained them anyway. Lower-wage workers are easy to intimidate even when the law isn’t on management’s side. Another problem is that an FTC ban would face a likely legal challenge from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which maintains the agency lacks jurisdiction over the matter. “Non-competes have a legitimate place in contract law,” the Chamber’s Sean Heather, senior vice president of anti-trust policy, told The Wall Street Journal in June. Republican FTC commissioner Noah Phillips agrees. But as FTC chair Lina Khan pointed out to the Journal, the rationale for noncompetes “really falls apart” when they’re imposed on low-wage workers.
New Republic October 21, 2022