Media clips

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• 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
• U.S. unemployment rate falls in December, but rises for Black women, Hispanic men

  “The labor market clearly remains strong,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “We are now seeing that the household survey and the payroll survey are showing similar signs of strength, and wage growth is looks to be coming down.”

  CNBC January 6, 2023
• FTC says proposed ban of noncompete clauses would strengthen workers’ hand

  According to a 2019 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, somewhere between a quarter to about a half of all workers are subject to noncompete clauses.

  NBC News January 6, 2023