Media clips

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• ‘By the grace of God’: How workers survive on $7.25 per hour

  Liberal-leaning economists say the move would help millions of workers without better prospects pay their bills. It would also pump more money into the economy through higher consumer spending, they argue.

  “Unfortunately, for far too many people, the ladder that they’re on doesn’t have a whole lot of rungs,” said Doug Hall, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the progressive Economic Policy Institute.

  NBC News March 7, 2013
• The Business of the Minimum Wage

  But the available data suggest that roughly half the workers likely to be affected by the $9-an-hour level proposed by the president are in families earning less than $40,000 a year. So while raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour may not be particularly well targeted as an anti-poverty proposal, it’s not badly targeted, either.

  The New York Times March 7, 2013
• More Than One In Five U.S. Workers Is Working Part-Time

  A majority of jobs added since the recession have been in low-wage sectors, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and one-in-four American workers will be in low-wage jobs for the next decade.

  Think Progress March 7, 2013
• Wage inequality warps U.S. income report

  Over the past 40 years, those in the top 1 percent of earners saw their real annual wages go up by nearly 131 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Wages for those in the 90-99th percentile rose 45 percent. For everyone else, wages increased 15.2 percent.

  CBS Moneywatch March 7, 2013
• Amnesty For Immigrants Spurs Greater Employment in U.S.

  Wages overall continued to rise, according to a 2012 study by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, even as the nation entered a recession that lasted from July 1990 to March 1991.

   

  Bloomberg March 7, 2013
• Workers don’t share in companies’ productivity gains

  Productivity, which measures the goods and services generated per hour worked, rose by 80.4% between 1973 and 2011, compared to a 10.7% growth in median hourly compensation, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which crunched the numbers last year.

  That’s a marked shift from the trend between 1948 and 1973, when productivity and compensation grew in tandem.

  The main reason for the wider gap is a dampening of wage growth in recent decades, both among the college-educated and those without degrees, said Lawrence Mishel, the institute’s president. Global competition and national deregulation have kept compensation down, while the decline of union power weakened workers’ ability to bargain for higher pay.

  The split has been particularly acute since the beginning of the 2000s, when wage growth flattened. And now, with unemployment hovering around 8%, workers feel lucky to have a job and aren’t pressing as much for raises.

   

  CNNMoney March 7, 2013
• This viral video is right: We need to worry about wealth inequality

  When we talk about economic inequality, we tend to talk about income inequality. But wealth inequality is much more skewed, as these numbers from the Economic Policy Institute show:

  

  The top 1 percent has about twice as large a share of the national wealth as it does of national income.

  The Washington Post March 7, 2013
• H-1B Workers Not Best Or Brightest, Study Says

  Managers of high-tech companies insist they need more H-1B visas for foreign IT workers to ensure access to the best and brightest workforce. But a study released on Thursday finds that imported IT talent is often less talented than U.S. workers.

  The study, published by the Economic Policy Institute and conducted by Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California in Davis, compares U.S. and foreign IT workers’ salaries, rates of PhD awards, doctorates earned and employment in research and development to determine whether those admitted to the U.S. under the H-1B visa program have skills beyond those of U.S. IT workers.

  Based on Matloff’s analysis, there’s no evidence that those granted H-1B visas offer exceptional talents.

  Information Week March 5, 2013
• Employer credit checks keep jobless out of workforce

  Demos said this can be partly attributed to higher unemployment in these communities. Unemployment among African-Americans stood at 14% at the end of 2012, while the Hispanic unemployment rate stood at nearly 10% — much higher than the 6% rate for white Americans, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNNMoney.com March 5, 2013
• America is more productive, but only the rich reap the rewards

  The vast distance between corporate profits and declining working class fortunes may look especially pronounced now, but it’s not a deviation from longstanding trends. According to an April 2012 study from the Economic Policy Institute, hourly worker compensation stopped rising with productivity gains right around the mid-1970s. Since then, wages have stagnated even as economic productivity  has continued a steady, multi-decade climb. Had the federal minimum wage kept up with productivity since the 1960s, it would be $21.72 per hour instead of just $7.25.

  MSNBC.com March 5, 2013
• US Child Poverty Rates Are High; Blame Large Population, Government Mistrust, And Fear Of More Entitlements; The United Kingdom May Have Answers

  The Economic Policy Institute reported the overall relative poverty rate of the U.S. was above 17 percent, the highest among developed nations in the late 2000s. But other countries with comparable rates still had a considerably lower percentage of children in that category.

  International Business Times March 4, 2013
• Minimal Wages, Minimal Families

  As Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute points out, the median worker’s real hourly compensation (real earnings plus benefits) has stagnated over the last 10 years, and the declining real value of the minimum wage has contributed to increased income inequality.

  The New York Times March 4, 2013
• Should we give visas to immigrants who create startups?

  But critics of existing work visa programs believe that such job-creation estimates are overblown and worry that prospective immigrants would end up gaming Moran’s proposed program. “It’s less of an incentive to start business than find a way to get a green card,” said Ross Eisenbrey, vice-president of the Economic Policy Institute. He believes that the assumption that all 75,000 visas will always be filled is “unreasonable,” with concerns that enforcement of the program’s requirements will be lax and that the definition of “full-time employees” hired by these immigrants’ companies will be vague and watered down.

  That said, Eisenbrey acknowledged that, at least in theory, the basic idea of creating more opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States is a good one. “It should be done as a sort of pilot program, and we’ll see how it goes,” he said.

  The Washington Post March 4, 2013
• Spending Cuts Signal Austere Future for Domestic Programs

  The result means less money for infrastructure, education, and defense. Deficit reduction has kept the economy below its capacity for several years, said Andrew Fieldhouse, federal budget policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, which favors helping low- and middle-income workers.

  “Timing is everything,” Fieldhouse said. “And if you cut back now, you’re actually going to make it harder to address your long-term challenges because austerity in a depressed economy is particularly damaging.”

  Bloomberg March 1, 2013
• The Jobs Picture Is Far Worse Than It Looks: As in the Great Depression, millions are suffering unemployed—but this time they’re invisible

  Imagine the sense of futility that must overcome people who month after month fill out forms, go for interviews if they are lucky, and end up as they started with nothing to show, because there are approximately 3.3 unemployed workers for every job seeker, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  US News and World Report March 1, 2013
• How the recession turned middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs

  Economists have been debating the underlying causes of this growing divergence for years now. Some, such as Harvard’s Lawrence Katz and Claudia Goldin, argue that new technologies and machines are now displacing mid-wage jobs at the assembly line and elsewhere. Others, such as Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, point to explicitly political factors, from the decline of labor unions to trade liberalization to the dwindling minimum wage.

  The Washington Post March 1, 2013
• Are Millennials a “Lost Generation”?

  But those who do manage to find jobs are also struggling. Young people with high school degrees have seen their inflation-adjusted wages decline by 11.1%; college graduates have seen a smaller, yet significant, decline of 5.4%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Yahoo Finance February 28, 2013
• Unemployment Rate for Hispanics Tops 17% in 5 States

  The Hispanic unemployment rate at the end of 2012 in 13 states significantly exceeded the state rate, with the percentage of jobless Hispanics surpassing 17 percent in five states.

  Overall, the unemployment rates likely will remain high for whites, Latinos, and African-Americans through the year, according to projections by the Economic Policy Institute.

  National Journal February 28, 2013
• Unemployment Report: Legislative Focus Needs To Be On Job Creation, Not Austerity

  Illinois’ 2013 unemployment rate for whites and Hispanics is projected to stay consistent with 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But the rate for African Americans is expected to decrease to 13.9 percent, but still stay above the national average.

  The report suggests “our leaders have gotten sidetracked by potentially harmful calls for deficit reduction” and should instead borrow money to “invest heavily in infrastructure improvements, which create large numbers of jobs and stimulate the economy.”

  “Policymakers need to focus on jobs now, and on deficits only after we have a strong economy,” the report reads. The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute is a non-profit think tank often presenting a liberal viewpoint on economic issues.

  According to the author of the report, Algernon Austin, director of the program on race, ethnicity and economy at the Economic Policy Institute, infrastructure spending has a “big bang for your buck” and would positively stimulate the economy.

  “That means we could put a lot of unemployed construction workers to work right now, and way into the future, infrastructure investments lead to higher productivity, it’s a win-win,” he said. “The borrowing costs are quite low for the government right now, the smart thing at the federal level is to borrow investment for infrastructure, put people back to work and ensure long-term strong economic productivity.”

  Progress Illinois February 28, 2013
• Minimum Wage Proposal Renews Economic Debate

  “So much about our dynamics of income inequality have been about the very top,” said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “This is not going to have a huge impact on that dynamic of the top pulling away.”

  Roll Call February 28, 2013
• Chamber study claims to debunk EPA figures on job-creating regulations

  But Josh Bivens, director of research and policy for the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said NERA’s job-forecasting model is flawed. Bivens accused the firm of trying “to play on totally-legitimate concerns about today’s weak labor market.”

  …

  But Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute said NERA’s methodology is misleading because it relies on a model that “assumes nobody who wants a job cannot find one, nor does anybody who separates from a job ever do it involuntarily.”

  “This means that they have literally nothing at all to say about whether or not [regulations] will increase or decrease unemployment,” he said, adding that his research indicates the regulations in question would yield a modest boost in job creation over the coming years.

  The Hill February 28, 2013
• Male Nurses Becoming More Commonplace — and Higher Paid

  According to a 2012 brief by the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank, the construction sector suffered the largest job losses of any industry during the recession, followed by manufacturing. While women still outnumber men in the financial, education and health care, and leisure and hospitality sectors, the EPI said, “men have gained in each sector relative to pre-recession shares and now make up a higher share of the payrolls in each sector,” positing that the shift isn’t signifying an end to gender segmentation in the labor markets, but rather both men and women desperately responding to a dismal market where a stable job is the primary concern.

  Yahoo Finance February 26, 2013
• Op-Ed: It’s Time To Raise The Minimum Wage

  Nearly 90 percent, and this is a study that the Economic Policy Institute did last summer, showing that nearly 90 percent of the recipients of that minimum wage increase are at least 20 years old, more than half work full time, more than a quarter are parents. I mean these are working people not unlike every other working person, and they do need to – it seems to me and I think it is not just economic issue, it is a moral issue. If they’re working full time, they should not be in poverty.

  NPR February 26, 2013
• Half Of U.S. Republicans Back Minimum Wage Of $9 Per Hour: Poll

  That’s substantially higher than the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, or $15,080 per year for an employee working 40 hours per week all year. When adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage is now lower in 2011 than it was in 1967, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Huffington Post February 26, 2013
• Rethinking Our Minimum Wage

  In a blog post, Economic Policy Institute analyst David Cooper explored that idea further. He ran the numbers on some other possible indices to which minimum wage could be tied. The chart below shows his work.

   

  Bill Moyers Blog February 26, 2013
• Business and Labor Agree: The U.S. Needs Better Data on Immigration

  The statement doesn’t identify how such a bureau would be structured, and the decision ultimately lies with Congress. But a handful of groups have advocated for some version of the idea—notably, the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Migration Policy Institute, and the Economic Policy Institute. The chamber wouldn’t comment beyond what was in Thursday’s statement, but the AFL-CIO pointed to an EPI plan as an influence on its 2009 immigration-reform platform. Here’s what that would look like:

  Under the EPI plan, a commission would hold a great deal of power over immigration policy. The Foreign Worker Adjustment Commission—proposed in 2009 by EPI’s Ray Marshall—would have the authority to set employment-based immigration levels, subject only to congressional disapproval. FWAC would study labor shortages by looking at regional, demographic, and educational trends to develop its policy suggestions. The top priority, Marshall writes, “is the preservation of U.S. labor standards.” (Brookings advocates for a similar commission, but with a narrower scope. It would provide annual recommendations to Congress and the president, but the recommendations could be ignored.)

  The EPI proposal envisions the president wielding a great deal of power over the commission’s structure.

  National Journal February 26, 2013
• Millennials Come of Age as America’s Most Stressed Generation

  And even for the lucky ones who are working, the picture remains bleak. According to the Economic Policy Institute, between 2000 and 2011 wages adjusted for inflation fell by over 11 percent for young high school grads and by 5.4 percent for young college grads.

  The Huffington Post February 22, 2013
• A crucial step toward retirement security for the working class

  “It’s not as good as a good defined-benefit plan,” says Monique Morrissey, an economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, “but better than what they have now.”

  She says government guaranteed programs like California’s are a hot topic in the pension community right now. “Everyone’s trying to figure out something workable.”

  Los Angeles Times February 22, 2013
• Gov’t downsizes amid GOP demands for more cuts

  “It’s a massive drag on the economy. We lost three-quarter million public-sector jobs in the recovery,” said economist Heidi Shierholz of the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute. “We’re still losing government jobs, although the pace has slowed. But we haven’t turned around yet.”

  Associated Press February 22, 2013
• How H-1B Visas Are Screwing Tech Workers

  Yet if tech workers are in such short supply, why are so many of them unemployed or underpaid? According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), tech employment rates still haven’t rebounded to pre-recession levels. And from 2001 to 2011, the mean hourly wage for computer programmers didn’t even increase enough to beat inflation.

  The ease of hiring H-1B workers certainly hasn’t helped. More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American-born workers for comparable positions, according to EPI. Experts who track labor conditions in the technology sector say that older, more expensive workers are particularly vulnerable to being undercut by their foreign counterparts. “You can be an exact match and never even get a phone call because you are too expensive,” says Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California-Davis. “The minute that they see you’ve got 10 or 15 years of experience, they don’t want you.”

  Mother Jones February 22, 2013