EPI in the news

• Debt cancellation got all the attention, but this Biden proposal could impact student-loan borrowers more, critics and advocates say

  Yu, who called the distinction, “frankly just terrible,” also worries that it could disproportionately harm Black borrowers and particularly Black women. Due to labor market discrimination, Black women often need more education to compete in the job market, but those same forces mean they’re not compensated the same for earning those degrees as their white and male counterparts. Black women with advanced degrees were paid nearly $7 less than white men with only a bachelor’s degree in 2020, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, a worker-focused think tank. 

  MarketWatch | October 3, 2022
• AOC says abortion bans ‘conscript’ the poor to work. Research shows restrictions have devastating economic impacts

  “Policymakers and advocates must recognize that the fall of Roe is an economic issue and would be one more victory for the economics of control and disempowerment – low wages, little worker power, and rising disinvestment,” according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. “Reproductive justice is key to economic justice and protects women’s humanity, dignity, and the right to exert freedom over their own choices in the economy.”

  The Independent | October 3, 2022
• ‘It’s a nightmare, but we’re alive’: After Hurricane Ian, Fort Myers residents mourn low-lying neighborhoods

  The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area ranks No. 14 nationwide in income inequality, according to a Economic Policy Institute Report. Florida ranks No. 2 of 50 states.

  USA Today | October 3, 2022
• Even a pandemic didn’t get paid sick days for most low-wage workers, this week in the war on workers

  Just 38% of the bottom 10% of workers have paid sick days, while 96% of the top 10% have the benefit, the Economic Policy Institute’s Elise Gould writes, highlighting recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. And if you’re in the lowest-paid 10% of workers, you cannot afford to take unpaid time off work without serious sacrifice. Leisure and hospitality is the industry where the lowest percentage of workers—53%—have paid sick leave, even though many of those jobs are public-facing, bringing an increased risk of contracting COVID or any other virus, and an increased risk of passing it on.

  Daily Kos | October 3, 2022
• Public schoolteachers should be better compensated [column]

  A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute found that the 2021 teacher total compensation penalty — the disparity between the wages and benefits of teachers and those of comparable college graduates — was 14.2% (a 23.5% wage penalty offset by a 9.3% benefits advantage). It’s a gap that has increased dramatically since 1993, when the total teacher compensation penalty was only 2.7%.

  Lancaster Online | October 3, 2022
• A story about a remote possibility

  Myriad terms have been thrown around about the current state of the economy and the job market. A recent All Things Considered piece centered on the word “dynamism.” As defined by Economic Policy Institute president Heidi Shierholz, it’s the change, advancement and restless entrepreneurial spirit of workers. Stacey Vanek Smith, the co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money, talked to a couple of job hoppers and economists to take a better look at what’s really happening. The piece includes a quick listen, written storytelling and interesting data that give the audience a new perspective on an issue that’s been the subject of much conversation. — Emily Barske

  NPR | October 3, 2022
• Striketober Is Back As Workers Fight To Close The Wage Gap

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEOs were paid 351 times as much as typical workers in 2020.  Between 1978 and 2020, CEO pay has grown by a staggering 1,322%; a world apart from the 18% wage growth workers saw during the same period.

  Forbes | October 3, 2022

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