Economic Policy Institute

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We're a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank using the tools of economics to defend and promote the interests of workers in economic policy discussions.

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The past few years have seen a rise in workers who are interested in, but unsure about, unions, according to a new report from John S. Ahlquist, Jake Grumbach, and Thomas Kochan. Learn more about this pivotal and growing group of "union curious" workers: www.epi.org/publication/... #econsky #union

The rise of the ‘union curious’: Support for unionization among America’s frontline workerswww.epi.org Two major shifts are occurring in U.S. workers’ attitudes toward labor unions: the rise of workers who are interested in, but unsure about, unions and an emerging generation gap between younger a...

The labor market is better by some measures than before the pandemic, according to EPI's Elise Gould. Read more about the comparisons and what Gould will be watching on jobs day this Friday: www.epi.org/blog/what-to...

What to watch on jobs day: The labor market is better by some measures than before the pandemicwww.epi.org Over the last few months, some have expressed concern over mild softening in certain labor market measures. For instance, after hitting a low of 3.4% in 2023, the unemployment rate slowly crept back u...

July 3 is CROWN Day, marking 5 years since the CROWN Act was first passed in CA. Since then, 25 states have passed the CROWN Act to protect BiPOC folks from hair-based discrimination at work and school. Learn more on our blog: www.epi.org/blog/half-of...

Half of U.S. states have passed the CROWN Act to ban hair discriminationwww.epi.org Black and brown people face racial discrimination based on their hair texture at work, school, and beyond, but a growing number of states are passing legislation to protect against hair discrimination...

Did you know nearly one-third of the workforce, or 52M people, earn less than $15/hour? On 6/29, the #MoralMarchOnWashington DC and to the Polls will amplify the policies elected leaders must champion if they want our votes. www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/mm2024/

Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Pollswww.poorpeoplescampaign.org Join The Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls! Saturday, June 29th | 10AM | Washington, D.C. | Third & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW ...

"Robust language assistance programs protect Asian American and Pacific Islander workers from exploitative practices & enable them to fully participate in the workforce," according to EPI's Adewale Maye and Stevie Marvin in a new blog. Read their policy recommendations: www.epi.org/blog/examini...

Examining the economic impact of language proficiency on AAPI populationswww.epi.org As our economy and nation become increasingly more diverse and multilingual, limited language access to public services and institutions poses a growing threat to limited English proficient (LEP) work...

Tipping and the subminimum wage for service workers are practices that are #RootedinRacism and hail from the exploitation of formerly enslaved Black workers following emancipation: 🧵1/6 www.epi.org/publication/...

Tipping is a racist relic and a modern tool of economic oppression in the South: Rooted in Racism and Economic Exploitation: Spotlightwww.epi.org Summary: This spotlight details the racist history of tipping, federal and state policy governing tipped work, and the experience of tipped workers in the economy—both nationwide and in the South. Acr...

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Join us on Tuesday, 6/18 at 1pm for an Instagram town hall discussion of EPI’s #RootedinRacism series on the Southern economic model and how it has failed to bring shared prosperity to the region. Watch on our instagram: www.instagram.com/economicpoli...

Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package is just the latest and most outrageous example of astronomical CEO pay. From 1978-2022, CEO pay increased by 1,209.2%. But typical workers only got a 15.3% increase in the same period. Learn more on our blog: www.epi.org/publication/...

CEO pay slightly declined in 2022: But it has soared 1,209.2% since 1978 compared with a 15.3% rise in typical workers’ paywww.epi.org CEO pay dipped in 2022 but remains enormous compared with the pay of other workers. CEOs are granted massive compensation packages by corporate boards because of their bargaining power, not because of...

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Economic Policy Institute

“The research shows that there is a huge Democratic advantage in economic performance relative to Republicans," says EPI's Josh Bivens on our newest podcast episode. Check it out at: www.epi.org/podcast/ or subscribe using your favorite podcast service.

The State of Working America Podcastwww.epi.org The State of Working America Podcast is part of EPI’s effort to raise workers’ voices to ensure they are heard in the economic policy debate.  Core topics include workers' rights, inequality, rac...

In 2024, state advocates were better equipped to fight against harmful child labor bills. Get insight on the state legislative landscape in our latest blog: www.epi.org/blog/more-st...

More states have strengthened child labor laws than weakened them in 2024: This year, state advocates were better equipped to organize in opposition to harmful billswww.epi.org Click here for the latest version of our 50-state maps showing the status of legislation to roll back or strengthen child labor protections. Early this year, we detailed the continued state legislativ...

Far from delivering promised shared prosperity, “business-friendly” policies have impoverished the South. On indicator after indicator, states that embrace the Southern economic development model that is #RootedinRacism underperform vs other regions. 🧵1/2 www.epi.org/publication/...

Breaking down the South’s economic underperformance: Rooted in Racism and Economic Exploitation: Part Twowww.epi.org States that have embraced the Southern economic development model are underperforming when compared to regions that did not implement this model.

Join us next week on Tuesday, June 11 at 2pm ET for a webinar discussing recent developments at the National Labor Relations Board and their impacts on worker organizing! Register here: www.epi.org/event/nlrb-w...

Organizing, Collective Action, and the National Labor Relations Board: With opening remarks from NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzowww.epi.org Please join the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) for a webinar discussing recent developments at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and their impacts on worker organizing.  NLRB General Cou...

EPI is proud to join Poor People's Campaign as a mobilization partner to help organize the upcoming June 29th “Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington DC & to the Polls.” It's time for candidates to commit to addressing the crisis of death by poverty. 🧵 1/2

Nursing home operators are pushing Congress to block a new rule ensuring adequate staffing for patients. The rule requires all nursing homes to: ✅ Provide at least 3.48 hrs of nursing care per resident per day ✅ Have a registered nurse available 24/7 www.epi.org/blog/for-pro... 🧵1/3

Nursing home owners are pushing Congress to block a new minimum staffing rulewww.epi.org Opposition to a new nursing home staffing standard has come to a boil with owners seeking to overturn the rule via a Congressional Review Act resolution, a “salted earth” strategy that would prevent t...

High school graduates have experienced a rapid economic recovery from the pandemic with real wage growth of 9.4% over the past 4 years, but racial and gender disparities remain, according to EPI's Katherine deCourcy and Elise Gould. www.epi.org/blog/class-o...

Class of 2024: Young high school graduates have seen strong wage growth over the pandemic recoverywww.epi.org As with young college graduates, young high school graduates are experiencing a much stronger labor market today than before the pandemic and at any point since 2000. The fast economic recovery from t...

Maryland and Alabama both have consistently low Black unemployment rates. But does that mean Black workers in MD and AL are equally well off? Not quite. MD and AL's different approaches to social and economic policy mean AL is much worse for Black workers. 🧵 1/3 www.epi.org/blog/alabama...

Alabama’s and Maryland’s similar Black unemployment rates mask major differences in labor market conditionswww.epi.org Nationally, the Black unemployment rate remains below historic norms, averaging 6% in the first quarter of 2024. Since 2019, two states—Maryland and Alabama—stand out as consistently having Black unem...

How much do companies spend on union-busters? We don't know, because the office overseeing and enforcing union-buster reporting requirements is limited by weak labor laws and inadequate resources, finds a new Dept. of Labor report: www.epi.org/blog/how-muc...

How much do companies spend on union-busters? The Department of Labor has improved reporting requirements and enforcement—but more is neededwww.epi.org Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year hiring professional union-busters to campaign against and defeat union organizing drives. However, only a fraction of this spending is publicl...

“The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would go a long way at leveling the playing field and making real workers’ right to organize,“ EPI’s Lynn Rhinehart told the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions: www.epi.org/publication/...

Testimony prepared for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for a hearing on ‘Big Labor Lies – Exposing Union Tactics to Undermine Free and Fair Elections’www.epi.org EPI Senior Fellow Lynn Rhinehart appeared as a witness and submitted the following written testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, on Wednesday, May 22...

Mercedes workers in AL narrowly voted against unionizing with UAW. But worker organizing can benefit workers whether or not they end up with a union, EPI's @dskamper.bsky.social says: www.epi.org/blog/just-by...

Just by having a union vote, Mercedes workers in Alabama won major concessions and proved the importance of worker powerwww.epi.org Last week, more than 4,500 workers at Mercedes-Benz’s plant in Vance, Alabama, voted on whether to organize with the United Auto Workers (UAW). After Mercedes and Republican elected leaders in Alabama...

“Anti-trust and competition policy is, at its heart, about restraining the abuse of excess corporate power that inflicts harms on communities,” said EPI’s Josh Bivens at a panel on Building Worker Power as Anti-Monopoly. Watch the event recording here: economicsecurityproject.org/resource/bui...

Building Worker Power as Anti-Monopoly: The Next Phase of the Modern Antitrust Agenda - Economic Security Projecteconomicsecurityproject.org In recent years, federal and state antitrust enforcers have challenged corporate lawbreakers with renewed vigor, while a revitalized labor movement has sought to improve working conditions and build p...

On the 70th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education, a Supreme Court ruling bolstering public education for all races, a movement is growing nationally to undermine that education. Many states have introduced deeply damaging voucher programs. www.epi.org/blog/voucher...

Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for allwww.epi.org Since the early 2000s, many states have introduced significant voucher programs to provide public financing for private school education. These voucher programs are deeply damaging to efforts to offer...

College graduates have experienced a rapid economic recovery from the pandemic, but racial and gender disparities remain large, according to EPI's Katherine deCourcy and Elise Gould. www.epi.org/blog/class-o...

Class of 2024: Young college graduates have experienced a rapid economic recoverywww.epi.org The labor market for young college graduates today is stronger than it was before the pandemic and has been for quite some time. This strong recovery was not guaranteed—instead, it was a direct result...

EPI’s Valerie Wilson is challenging a long-standing view that narrowing racial disparities in unemployment is outside the purview of the Federal Reserve. Learn more on our blog: www.epi.org/blog/labor-m...

Tight labor markets are essential to reducing racial disparities and within the purview of the Fed’s dual mandatewww.epi.org Download this article as a PDF This essay was originally published in the Point/Counterpoint section of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1002/pam...

AL auto workers are voting in a major union election this week, on the heels of a UAW win in TN. Can this organizing reawakening in the South overcome the obstacles that defeated Operation Dixie, a failed union movement nearly 80 years ago? 🧵1/6 www.epi.org/blog/operati...

Operation Dixie failed 78 years ago. Are today’s Southern workers about to change all that?www.epi.org Volkswagen workers’ decisive recent union election victory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, makes them the first Southern U.S. auto workers to unionize a foreign-owned auto factory. Their success could also...

This November, Alaska voters will decide whether to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. As our new report shows, increasing Alaska’s minimum wage would create a stronger and more inclusive state economy. 🧵1/5 www.epi.org/publication/...

Understanding the impact of Alaska’s proposed $15 minimum wagewww.epi.org Executive summary This November, Alaska voters will decide whether to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027.{{1}} This new wage floor will produce significant increases for Alaska’s...

Cities and counties might be at risk of losing billions if they don’t abide by the correct American Rescue Plan funds process. Advocates & policymakers need to ensure this flexible model is successful by correctly obligating funds. Learn more on our blog: www.epi.org/blog/cities-...

Cities and counties might be at risk of losing billions if they don’t obligate American Rescue Plan funds correctly: Advocates should pay close attention to the 2024 obligation deadlinewww.epi.org State and local governments have until December 31, 2024, to “obligate” the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) they received as part of 2021’s American Rescue Plan Act. Community partners a...

America has a housing crisis, and the free market won't solve it. Inaccessible homeownership, rising rents, and widespread discrimination have created a dire housing situation in the US, according to EPI's Kyle Moore and Adewale Maye. www.epi.org/blog/the-fre...

The free market won’t solve our nationwide housing affordability problem: Equity-focused policy is the solutionwww.epi.org Access to affordable housing is integral to economic security, and homeownership is often a precondition for economic mobility. Sadly, the prospect of homeownership remains increasingly elusive for po...