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EPI in the news

• Lyft ‘Dodges A Bullet’ In Worker Lawsuit, But Uber May Not Be As Lucky

  Such clauses are increasingly common in employment contracts — and, according to critics, often to the detriment of workers. Plaintiffs are more likely to lose claims in binding arbitration than in the federal courts, and when they do win, damages are substantially less, a recent report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found.

  International Business Times | January 29, 2016
• Colorado fares better than oil patch states for job gains

  The Economic Policy Institute, a labor policy think tank, also examined the job and unemployment numbers for 2015 versus pre-recession levels.

  Denver Post | January 29, 2016
• US election: Trumped by ‘The Donald’

  Polls show that Mr Trump draws much of his support from white, working-class men with a high-school education. While the US economy has recovered from the global financial crisis, they have not sensed much improvement because of stagnant wages. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median income for households, excluding the elderly, fell 12 per cent from 2000 to 2014.

  Financial Times | January 29, 2016
• Reparations May Not Be the Only Solution to Racial Inequities

  See excerpt: The racial wealth gap is a long-standing vestige of racism and restrictive federal, state and local policies that explicitly excluded African-Americans from opportunities whites had to build wealth. According to the latest Survey of Consumer Finances, the median African-American family has about 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by the median white family. The effects of this go beyond a single generation — inheritance is one of the factors contributing to a widening wealth gap. That’s because wealth affords any number of mobility-enhancing opportunities, including the ability to own property, pay for higher education, build a secure retirement and access to high quality health care. Wealth also provides a degree of economic stability against the uncertainties of job loss, major illness or death.

  The New York Times | January 28, 2016
• An upbeat economic story

  Here’s some good — and generally overlooked — news about the U.S. economy: Among major ethnic and racial groups, African Americans scored the biggest job advances in 2015. This conclusion comes from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank and advocacy group. It reports that black Americans made “notable employment gains . . . even as employment growth for whites and Hispanics slowed.” The evidence? EPI cites a statistic called the “employment-to-population ratio,” which is the share of adults who have a job.

  The Washington Post | January 28, 2016
• Competition for workers may drive up pay, benefits

  Still, as more workers found employment, paychecks were not similarly rebounding, said Elise Gould, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute. An analysis of wage growth by the left-leaning Washington, D.C.-based think tank shows the median wage the last seven years has hovered around 2 percent year-over-year. EPI believes workers will begin to reap the benefit of an improving economy with wage growth at around 3.5 percent to 4 percent — the rate before the recession hit, Ms. Gould said.  “Employers still hold the cards in setting worker contracts, in terms of wages and hours,” Ms. Gould said. Ms. Gould pointed to a slew of other factors tracked by the EPI that show the labor market has not recovered from the recession: Workforce participation is the lowest since the 1970s, meaning more workers are not actively looking for work; the “quit rate” is far from recovered, meaning fewer workers are comfortable leaving their current job for other positions; and workers’ share of corporate income remains far below pre-recession levels.

  Pittsburgh Post Gazette | January 28, 2016
• See which Louisiana community is the most educated in the state

  In a 2013 report published by the Economic Policy Institute, analysts found a strong correlation between the educational levels of a state’s workforce and the median wages in that state, and suggested investing in education instead of lowering taxes or cutting costs to businesses to boost economic prosperity.

  New Orleans Times-Picayune | January 28, 2016

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