Events

Raising Wages is a Key Tool in the Fight Against Poverty

Date: May 20, 2015

On Wednesday, May 20th, at 11:00 a.m. ET, the Economic Policy Institute will welcome Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Center For Community Change Executive Director Deepak Bhargava for a discussion of the connection between raising wages and reducing poverty. Elise Gould, senior economist at EPI, will present findings from her latest report, Broad-Based Wage Growth is a Key Tool in the Fight Against Poverty.

While policy efforts to fight poverty often focus on strengthening the social safety net and tax-and-transfer system, raising wages is a missing ingredient. As wages have stagnated, the link between overall economic growth and declining poverty has been severed. If wages had grown at the same rate as productivity since 1979, 7.1 million fewer people would be in poverty.

Ellison, Bhargava, and Gould, will discuss ways in which we can boost wage growth and thereby pull hardworking Americans out of poverty.

What: Discussion of new EPI report, Broad-Based Wage Growth is a Key Tool in the Fight Against Poverty, by EPI senior economist Elise Gould and research assistants Will Kimball and Alyssa Davis

Who: U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), introduced by Take Action Minnesota Executive Director Dan McGrath
Center for Community Change Executive Director Deepak Bhargava
Economic Policy Institute Senior Economist Elise Gould
Moderated by New Republic staff writer Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig

When: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 11 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Where: Economic Policy Institute
1333 H St NW, Suite 300 East Tower
Wellstone Room
Washington, DC 20005

Reporters: To RSVP, please send an email to news@epi.org

For more information and for public RSVP click here.