Media clips

• California school district asks parents to house teachers as costs surge

  Teacher salaries have remained stagnant across the country since 1996, and a report from the Economic Policy Institute shows California teachers were paid 17% less than comparable college-educated workers last year.

  The Hill September 8, 2022
• A COVID-19 testing startup with ‘no history of success’ faces lawsuit over accuracy claims

  While millions of Americans lost jobs during the pandemic, the payouts to leaders at the three publicly traded Utah firms (Domo, Qualtrics and Co-Diagnostics) outpaced the nearly 19% jump in compensation to CEOs during the pandemic, according to research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. 

  USA Today September 8, 2022
• Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to stay $7.25 while neighboring states see increases in January

  “It has not been this low in value since February 1956, since the time Elvis Pressley had his first number one hit, Heartbreak Hotel, February 1956,” said Dave Kamper with the Economic Policy Institute. 

  “There is no place in this country where you can meet the standard of living of an adult and a child on a minimum wage job in this country. None,” Kamper said.    

  “Real wages for workers, which is what a worker’s wages is actually worth in terms of what they can buy, have fallen through the pandemic rather than actually gone up. Indexing minimum wage to inflation is a way to make up for that,” said Kamper. 

   

  CBS September 8, 2022
• State and Local Jobs May Take Until 2026 to Recoup Pandemic Losses

  For Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute, part of the challenge for local governments involves raising the appeal of public-sector employment, whether it’s by enhancing benefits, improving working conditions or boosting salaries.

  Bloomberg September 8, 2022
• For Sen. Sherrod Brown, ‘dignity of work’ is essential to life

  Brown, Walsh, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Race, Ethnicity and the Economy Program at the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, hit those themes in their interviews. Brown plans to pursue them legislatively if he returns to the panel’s top job after the November election, assuming Democrats hold the Senate this fall.

  Walsh made many of the same points. Both EPI’s Wilson and Walsh, a Laborers Local 223 member, emphasized such measures must reach those who have been left out and left behind, even in the current fast recovery from the coronavirus-caused depression.

  The anti-coronavirus laws Biden, Brown and Walsh pushed through “create a pathway to middle-class jobs, especially for workers of color” and people with disabilities, the Labor Secretary said. They need it, Wilson added.

  And DOL now will award job creation grants “and make sure we measure the outcomes” for those hardest-hit workers, the secretary promised.

  The worst damage from the pandemic was to Black woman workers, Wilson elaborated. They got hit two ways. Many of the occupations they were forced into, and which already were low-paying, such as home health care and restaurant servers, suffered the worst job losses. And even if jobs remained, the pandemic-caused national closure of schools forced thousands of working women to reluctantly quit, to take care of their own kids.

  “This continues to be a problem and a challenge,” Wilson said of the future facing those working women. “And it’s due to the larger structural problems” in the economy and society, she added—a polite way, though she didn’t say so, of endemic structural racism.

  People's Weekly World September 8, 2022
• Transcript: Future of Work: Economic Mobility
  Washington Post deputy business editor Damian Paletta speaks with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, about the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market. Conversation recorded on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.

  See article for full transcript of Valerie’s comments.

  The Washington Post September 8, 2022
• What the number of involuntary part-time workers tells us about the economy

  The measure of involuntary part-time employment gives us a sense of how much slack or unmet potential is in the labor market, per Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

  “When that number is lower” — like it’s been in the last couple of years — “it means that there are more opportunities and fewer people are scrambling to get additional hours,” Gould said.

  That’s good news for workers, who have lots of options and additional leverage vis-a-vis employers, Gould said.

  Marketplace September 8, 2022
• Experts on the impact of economic disparities on worker mobility

  Join Washington Post Live for a special series that explores how the labor market is responding to dramatic disruptions brought on by inflation, automation, gigification and the pandemic. Part one of the series unpacks the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market, featuring Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Washington Post September 7, 2022
• State and Local Jobs May Take Until 2026 to Recoup Pandemic Losses

  Join Washington Post Live for a special series that explores how the labor market is responding to dramatic disruptions brought on by inflation, automation, gigification and the pandemic. Part one of the series unpacks the economic drivers and disparities that impact mobility in the labor market, featuring Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  The Washington Post September 7, 2022
• Recession could cause more workers to ‘quiet quit,’ start a business, freelance
  A recent survey from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute found that a little more than half of nurses are considering leaving the… (paywall).
  Business Insider September 2, 2022
• TikToker explains what he thinks older generations miss when they criticize young people for ‘quiet quitting’: ‘Incredibly discouraging’

  To act as though people aren’t working hard enough is also disingenuous. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in the U.S., workers’ productivity increased 3.5 times as much as pay between 1979 and 2020. Why would you work three times harder if you’re not getting three times the salary?

  Yahoo! Life September 2, 2022
• It’s hard to find workers in Michigan.
  There has been strong payroll employment growth nationally, said Elise Gould, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute (paywall).
  Lansing State Journal September 2, 2022
• Why Tesla workers’ right to wear union T-shirts is so important

  “In union elections, everyone is looking around to see who else is in; to judge whether they believe that their co-workers are capable of coming together to force management to pay more than it wants,” a 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, explains. “A large collective action—such as everyone wearing union buttons or t-shirts—gives employees confidence that they have the collective power to stand up to management.”

  Quartz September 2, 2022
• This Labor Day, Support the Union Wave

  Joining together to make things better, from a bake sale to a barn-raising, is a longstanding and heartwarming American tradition. But when workers get together, watch out: Employers routinely violate federal law, reports the Economic Policy Institute, by harassing or firing workers involved in union organizing campaigns.

  The Progressive September 2, 2022
• New report shows Colorado teachers are losing ground in pay penalties

  A new report from the Economic Policy Institute found the so-called teacher pay penalty is at an all-time high nationwide, but is particularly high in Colorado.

  The report’s author, and Economic Policy Institute research associate, Sylvia Allegretto, describes the teacher wage penalty as how much teachers earn relative to their non-teaching professional peers.

  Aspen Public Radio September 2, 2022
• Americans are terrible at taking vacations. Why are U.S. workers so bad at taking time off?

  The reason why the U.S. doesn’t have a federal paid leave policy is related to why we don’t have a better child care policy, more sick days or other safety net provisions, said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

  Grid News September 2, 2022
• This Labor Day remember that before unions, workers had virtually no rights in the workplace.

  When it comes to the health of American democracy, unions also get the goods as the Economic Policy Institute report explains that there are fewer restrictive voting laws in states with the highest union density while over 70 percent of low-union-density states have passed voter suppression laws between 2011 and 2019.

  San Diego Union Tribune September 2, 2022
• Arkansas is middle of the road in teacher pay gap

  Arkansas teachers make 20.5% less than college-educated workers in other fields, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute.

  Axios September 2, 2022
• Inflation Pushes Minimum Wages Higher in Some States

  Quotes David Cooper on minimum wage increases and inflation (paywall).

  Pew Charitable Trust September 2, 2022
• Custodian’s Photo Showing School Bathroom’s Mess Sparks Outrage: ‘Monsters’

  A study published by the Economic Policy Institute examined staffing shortages in public K-12 schools and it pointed to COVID concerns as a factor in nonteacher staff shortages.

  “But the reality is that staff shortages in K-12 schools are a problem that policymakers in much of the country have had for decades,” the organization said.

  In addition to being exposed to COVID-19, the Economic Policy Institute reported that public education support workers are paid low wages and work limited hours.

  “The combination of low pay and limited hours makes these front-line jobs less attractive to return to—or apply to,” the organization said.

  Newsweek September 2, 2022
• Housing is so expensive in California that a school district is asking students’ families to let teachers move in with them

  In California, many teachers grapple with housing affordability because — like many educators throughout the United States — they are underpaid. The state’s instructors earned 15.5% less than their college-educated non-teaching peers from the years 2014 through 2019, according to data collected from the Economic Policy Institute.

  Business Insider September 2, 2022
• White House, job search companies partner to address teacher shortage; first lady calls for higher pay

  “It’s a symptom of something that we’ve had going on before the pandemic — a crisis of respect,” Cardona said, citing a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute that found teachers’ weekly pay increased just $29 on average from 1996 to 2001 after being adjusted for inflation.”

  Spectrum News NY 1 September 2, 2022
• Why are Americans still quitting their jobs?

  “I certainly think that the pandemic has led many people to reevaluate their work and their priorities and what they want to do,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute said in a statement to Business Insider.

  World Economic Forum September 2, 2022
• What goes into calculating employment numbers?

  “They’re all based on some kind of a sample, some kind of an estimation technique, and I think you have to take each one of them and get the information that you can from it,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Marketplace September 2, 2022
• Poll: Union popularity hits 57-year high

  What they’re saying: “U.S. workers see unions as critical to fixing our nation’s broken workplace — where most workers have little power or agency at work,” wrote the Economic Policy Institute Tuesday in response to the Gallup poll findings.

  Axios September 2, 2022
• The worst-paying states for teachers

  It’s consistent with a separate report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) which found from 1996 to 2021, average weekly wages increased just $29 for public school teachers —consistently earning less than their non-teacher, college-educated counterparts.  

  The Hill September 2, 2022
• Teachers say politicians, parents stressing them out

  Participation in a teacher union can reduce educators’ stress levels, according to a paper released Monday by the Economic Policy Institute. Researchers measured the stress levels of teachers in districts with collective bargaining against those with no union agreement and found a 14% difference in stress levels. 

  EPI said reduced stress levels for union-affiliated teachers may be due to support for teacher compensation, improved working conditions and advocacy for “teacher voice.”

  K-12 Dive September 2, 2022
• Fact check: Education Secretary says average teacher pay up only ‘$29’ over last 25 years

  Cardona’s office told PolitiFact that he was referring to statistics from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.

  In a report released Aug. 16, the group found that inflation-adjusted average weekly wages of teachers had increased by just $29 between 1996 and 2021, specifically from $1,319 to $1,348 in inflation-adjusted dollars.

  To calculate these figures, the group used two detailed data sets from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We decided to see if the data from Cardona’s own department tracked with the Economic Policy Institute’s. So we examined National Center for Education Statistics’ data to find the estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools.

  Those numbers are just a little different. Between the 1995-96 school year and the 2020-21 school year, average annual K-12 teacher salaries in public schools rose from $64,113 to $65,090. That’s an increase of $977 after accounting for inflation. (The Economic Policy Institute and Education Department tracked salaries of teachers via only average income, not the median. Allegretto said that either measure would be acceptable for studying teacher pay; unlike some fields where extreme outliers can skew averages compared to medians, the range of salaries in K-12 teaching is fairly compact.)

  WRAL.com September 2, 2022
• Inflation vs. Recession

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, economists’ opinions vary on which is worse for an economy, a recession or rising inflation. One common argument is that inflation is worse than a recession because it impacts everyone. By contrast, a recession—and the associated job losses that come with it—may impact a smaller number of people.

  Forbes September 2, 2022
• Many Americans have happily ditched 9-to-5 office jobs. A recession could force others to join them — and change ideas of work forever.

  The majority are earning less than they would with a traditional job, and per an Economic Policy Institute analysis of a 2020 Shift Project survey, 14% of gig workers surveyed earned less than the federal minimum wage on an hourly basis. In addition to the lack of predictable income and benefits, some freelance work — like food delivery or Uber driving — can be grueling. And as more freelancers join the fold, this could mean more people competing for a limited number of opportunities. 

  September 2, 2022