Kuttner has been fighting for the New Deal, and against its ferocious enemies, for his entire life. He started as one of journalist I.F. Stone’s assistants, served as a congressional investigator, was general manager of Pacifica’s WBAI Radio in New York City, and has been a regular newspaper columnist. Perhaps most significantly, he’s co-founded two enduring institutions: the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, and The American Prospect, one of the zestiest liberal publications in the U.S.
The Intercept
June 17, 2022
An analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found local government workers receive, on average, 14.1% less weekly pay compared with similar private sector workers, and local government workers in states with no collective bargaining rights averaging 22.9% lower pay. Those local government workers with weak collective bargaining rights average a 16.6% pay gap, compared with just 10.5% gap for workers in states with strong collective bargaining rights.
Guardian
June 17, 2022
Austin is increasingly inaccessible for individuals and families including the invaluable employees who keep the city running. The Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator shows that a family of four in Austin needs $7,170 dollars to cover their monthly costs or approximately $42 per hour between two working adults. A single adult in Austin must earn $3,497 per month or $21 per hour to cover basic household expenses.
Austin American-Statesman
June 17, 2022
In an industry where employers typically provide nothing more than an hourly wage, Starbucks, once viewed as a progressive company, was widely praised for offering a comprehensive benefit to part-time employees since 1988 (via Starbucks). In comparison, the Economic Policy Institute writes that only 14.4% of restaurant workers receive health insurance.
Tasting Table
June 17, 2022
Outside allies were more blunt. The liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington wrote on Twitter that the report was “pretty ugly — and shows the pain workers and their families are experiencing.”
New York Times
June 17, 2022
That’s according to a new report published Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program and Local Progress
Minnesota Reformer
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
There’s almost always a power imbalance when it comes to negotiating with an employer, said Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute. And that imbalance is compounded for workers of color.
Marketplace
June 17, 2022
“A more accurate description of what we’re now seeing might be called ‘profit-price inflation’ — prices driven upward by corporations seeking increased profits,” Reich argued, pointing to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute showing that record-shattering corporate profits have been contributing disproportionately to inflation.
Common Dreams
June 17, 2022
Due to inflation, the federal minimum wage in 2021 was worth 21% less than 12 years prior, and worth 34% less than in 1968, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Los Angeles Times (HS Insider)
June 17, 2022
Their companies shared the wealth when they bargained with the strong unions of the postwar years. In fact, notes the Economic Policy Institute, major U.S. corporate CEOs in 1965 were only realizing 21 times the pay their workers were pocketing.
Common Dreams
June 17, 2022
In 2021, because of the Great Resignation, workers had additional bargaining power and were able to demand higher wages. In the United States, the average wage grew 4.4% in the first year of the pandemic, per the Economic Policy Institute. Average hourly earnings also jumped significantly over the past 12 months to $31.95, a 5.2% annual increase, according to a June report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fortune
June 17, 2022
The extraordinary conditions that created this more pro-worker market won’t last forever, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist for the US Department of Labor under President Barack Obama.
CNN
June 17, 2022
But suspending the gas tax would take away a key policy tool for discouraging the use of gasoline for other purposes, and it would remove a funding source targeted specifically for infrastructure, Adam Hersh, senior economist at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News.
ABC News
June 17, 2022
People with retirement accounts are keeping more of their assets in stocks now, as opposed to bonds or a mix of other investments. “There has been a growing complacency of people keeping most of their nest eggs in stocks,” said Monique Morrissey, who specializes in retirement at the left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute. “There has been a fundamental misunderstanding — returns do not always average out.”
New York Times
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
American families spend more on child care than their counterparts in many other parts of the world. And the cost in Massachusetts is the highest among the 50 states, with infant care costing, on average, over $20,000 a year, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. The average price for 4-year-olds is only slightly lower, at $15,000 a year.
WBUR
June 17, 2022
“Renters not protected by rent control laws, low-income seniors who spend a larger share of their incomes on food, and seniors in rural areas and suburbs who rely on cars to get around are more affected,” Monique Morrissey, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, told Yahoo Money.
Yahoo Finance
June 10, 2022
And that wealth did get shared. In 1965, the Economic Policy Institute notes, major corporate CEOs in the United States were only realizing 21 times the pay their workers were pocketing. That gap would remain fairly modest over the next dozen years, only reaching 31 times in 1978.
Inequality.org
June 10, 2022
High CEO pay isn’t a new phenomenon. A report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that, in 2020, CEOS made 351 times more than the typical worker. From 1978 to 2020, according to EPI, CEO compensation has grown 1,322%. At the same time, the typical worker’s pay rose by just 18% during that time. According to the IPS report, that gap is even starker for the world’s lowest earners and their CEOs.
Business Insider
June 10, 2022
“Make no mistake, we want positive real wage growth! But nominal wage growth moderating even in the face of continued inflation is more evidence that we can keep labor markets tight right now without feeding inflation,” wrote Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonpartisan think tank
The Hill
June 10, 2022
Some economists have argued that, in addition to rising input costs, higher prices for consumer goods are a result of corporate power, which has allowed companies to mark up prices and increase profit margins. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, has said that “corporate pricing decisions in a pandemic-distorted environment are a propagator of inflation.” P&G declined to comment and Kimberly-Clark didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg
June 10, 2022
Those studying the issue from the outside fully agree. “We have to stop treating our public school education system in this country as an afterthought,” said David Cooper, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the Economic Policy Institute. “We are already facing a huge shortfall.”
LA Progressive
June 10, 2022
Non-compete clauses and NDAs are pretty standard at many large tech companies. About half of all private-sector employers issue non-competes to at least some of their workers. That number goes even higher as worker pay and education levels increase, and in tech-heavy sectors like information and business services, according to a 2019 report from the non-profit Economic Policy Institute.
Gizmodo
June 10, 2022
Some lawmakers and the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, said it’s time raise wages higher. Bills (S3062C/A7503B) would schedule annual increases to the rate of inflation every year. The group said it would mean a $21.25 by 2026 in the city; an $18.65 wage in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties by 2026, and the rest of the state would increase from $13.20 to $16.35 by the same time. “Indexing the minimum wage in this way would protect the buying power of millions of low-wage workers’ paychecks and, in particular, improve the economic security of predominantly women, Black, and Latinx workers,” the group said in a report. — Joseph Spector
Politico
June 10, 2022
Women and minority groups could help reverse that trend, data suggests. Black workers had a higher membership rate than White workers in 2021, and the gap between men’s and women’s membership rates narrowed from 10 percentage points in 1983 to less than 1 percentage point last year. As of 2020, about two-thirds of workers covered by a union contract were women and people of color, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg Law
June 10, 2022