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What this report finds: Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board show an uptick in union organizing activity in 2022. There is further evidence that many more workers would like to form a union but face barriers to doing so. Why it matters: It’s not surprising that workers want to unionize. The advantages of unionization are well-documented.… → Read More
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which will make a number of investments in our economy that could prove transformative for U.S. workers and their families. It would make the U.S. economy fairer and more productive, and the Senate must pass this critical legislation as soon as possible.… → Read More
Last week 2 million workers applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Breaking that down: 1.2 million applied for regular state unemployment insurance (not seasonally adjusted), and 830,000 applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Many headlines this morning are saying there were 1.4 million UI claims last week, but that’s not the right number to use.… → Read More
In the last five weeks, the number of workers applying for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits has skyrocketed to well over 20 times what it was in the pre-coronavirus period, and over five times the worst five-week stretch of the Great Recession. For comparison, in the period before the coronavirus hit, just over a million workers… → Read More
This week, Congress continues to negotiate a fiscal stimulus package to help ease the economic shock of the coronavirus. In these negotiations, it is critical that lawmakers establish strong conditions for industry bailouts. Working families, not just shareholders and corporate executives, must receive the benefits of any taxpayer-funded bailout. Our economy is marked by extreme… → Read More
The commonly paired statements that “everyone is working from home” and “everyone is having their goods delivered” amid the coronavirus outbreak ignores a whole segment of the workforce—the ones prepping and delivering their purchases. In fact, less than 30% of workers can work from home, and the ability to work from home differs enormously by… → Read More
Working women and men need and deserve a Secretary of Labor—somebody who will look out for their interests, protect them from unscrupulous employers, set strong health and safety standards, and safeguard their retirement security. Unfortunately, corporate lawyer Eugene Scalia, the man named by President Trump to be the next Secretary of Labor, is not that… → Read More
The Paying Hourly Americans Stronger Earnings (PHASE)-in $15 Wage Act, which would establish regional minimum wages throughout the country, would do little more than lock in low wages for millions of workers in parts of the country where large national employers pay as little as they can get away with. Twenty-one percent of low-wage workers… → Read More
Adele Gagliardi Administrator, Office of Policy Development and Research U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue Washington, DC 20210 Re: Proposed Rule: Wagner-Peyser Act Staffing Flexibility, RIN 1205-AB87 Submitted electronically to Dear Ms. Gagliardi: The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low-… → Read More
President Donald Trump’s administration is close to publishing a new proposal that would dramatically weaken Department of Labor’s 2016 overtime rule. The adoption of this new rule would leave behind millions of workers who would have gotten overtime protections under the 2016 guidelines. The 2016 rule, which was held up in court following a challenge… → Read More
For the first time in nearly a decade, Democrats will hold the majority in the House when Congress convenes in January. The results of yesterday’s election are encouraging and represent historic progress—with a record number of women winning seats in the house, including key victories by diverse candidates across faiths and ethnicities. And importantly, Democrats… → Read More
The rules governing work in this country are rigged against working people from their first day on the job. This agenda outlines a series of initial reforms that will help to unrig the system and ensure a fair first day for working people. → Read More
Despite an unemployment rate at 4.1 percent or less since last October, wage growth has been anemic. In fact, over the last year, the average real wage of private sector workers saw no growth at all. While the total lack of growth in inflation-adjusted (real) wages over the last year is due in part to… → Read More
WASHINGTON - In December, Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced a proposed rule, which would allow restaurant owners to pocket the tips of millions of tipped workers. EPI estimates that the new rule would result in $5.8 billion each year in lost wages for workers, with $4. → Read More
February 3, 2018 marks one year since President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum to “review” the fiduciary rule. This was just two weeks into his administration, a clear signal that undermining this common sense rule is a top priority for the administration. If fully implemented, the fiduciary rule would require that financial professionals presenting themselves … → Read More
Tomorrow, President Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union speech, in which he will likely provide a triumphalist account of the economic policy changes made during the first year of his presidency. But despite big talk on the campaign trail about how he would stand up for the forgotten working man … → Read More
The Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed a rule that would make it legal for employers to pocket their workers’ tips, as long as they pay those workers the minimum wage. We estimate that if the rule is finalized, every year workers will lose $5.8 billion in tips, as tips are shifted from workers to employers. Of the $5.8 billion, nearly 80 percent—$4.6 billion—would be taken from female tipped… → Read More
On December 5, the Trump administration took its first major step toward allowing employers to legally pocket the tips earned by the workers they employ. → Read More
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes a 40-hour work week for most U.S. workers by requiring that people working more than 40 hours a week are paid 1.5 times their rate of pay for their extra hours. However, the FLSA exempts some workers from these protections. In particular, salaried workers who make above a … → Read More
Today the Trump administration took their first major step towards allowing employers to legally take tips earned by the workers they employ. The Department of Labor released a proposed rule rescinding portions of its tip regulations, including current restrictions on “tip pooling”—which would mean that, for example, restaurants would be able to pool the tips … → Read More