EPI in the news

• Said and heard this week in and around healthcare

  ‘[T]he use of AI in the healthcare setting is exacerbating long-standing issues that healthcare professionals have bargained over, including staffing ratios and discretion in patient care.’

  —Analysts Patrick Oakford, Josh Bivens and Celine McNicholas. (Source: “Federal AI legislation: An evaluation of existing proposals and a road map forward.” Economic Policy Institute, Sep. 25)

  AI in Healthcare newsletter | September 27, 2024
• Helena hospital expands employee child care program

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average cost of infant care in Montana is more than $9,000 a year.

  Montana Public Radio | September 27, 2024
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost files emergency motion against Columbus City Schools over busing

  School bus driver numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. There were 192,400 school bus drivers in September 2023, down 15.1% from September 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Ohio Capital Journal | September 27, 2024
• Lewis Hine’s Battle Against Child Labor

  In the past few years, America’s business lobby has sort to reverse that progress and roll back protections, according to the Economic Policy institute. This year alone, six states—Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and West Virginia, enacted legislation to weaken child labor protections, despite an increase in child labor violations. 

  Common Dreams | September 27, 2024
• Data, pilot projects showing food service robots may not threaten jobs

  Ben Zipperer, a low-wage labor market economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said the early fears around automation and robots threatening jobs in the foodservice industry are not being realized. Automation has shown to make workers more productive and effective, he said.

  Robots have also been shown to make businesses more efficient and profitable, Zipperer siad, which creates an “offsetting demand factor.” That increased demand and profitability can actually help keep the cost of food for customers more affordable, he added.

  States Newsroom | September 27, 2024
• Missouri’s Prop A would raise minimum wage to $15 and promise sick leave, but business owners warn of job losses

  Around 900,000 workers — nearly a third of Missouri’s workforce — would either get automatic raises or likely get raises because they already make just above that new minimum wage,  according to the Economic Policy Institute. And with one in five private employees nationwide lacking paid sick time, organizers say that this proposition would especially benefit poor Missourians.

  Kansas City Beacon | September 27, 2024
• Unpacking Claims

  The meme claimed real weekly wages increased 8.2% under Trump and fell 3.9% under Biden. The data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and charted by the St. Louis Fed showed that, indeed, real wages rocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a historical height of $393 — a number based on 1982-84 inflation-adjusted dollars — in the second quarter of 2020. 

  This is due to the fact that low-paying jobs disappeared during the height of the pandemic while workers with higher-paying jobs adapted to remote work, pushing the average up, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Snopes | September 27, 2024

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