Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Inst

Heidi Shierholz

Economic Policy Inst

Washington, DC, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Economic Policy Inst
  • PeoplesWorld

Past articles by Heidi:

Unionization increased by 200,000 in 2022: Tens of millions more wanted to join a union, but couldn’t

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

EPI applauds House passage of the Build Back Better Act

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

UI claims and GDP growth are historically bad: Now is not the time to cut benefits that are supporting jobs

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, more than 24 million workers applied for unemployment insurance benefits

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

Here are safeguards needed in bailout packages to protect working people and fight corporate greed

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

Not everybody can work from home: Black and Hispanic workers are much less likely to be able to telework

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

Why Eugene Scalia is the wrong person for the job

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 PHASE-in $15 Act would lock in low wages for millions of workers

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

Proposed rule to privatize the federal Employment Service would likely reduce services for unemployed workers

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

The Trump administration wants to prevent millions of workers from getting paid overtime

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

The new Democratic House should make worker empowerment a priority

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

First Day Fairness: An agenda to build worker power and ensure job quality

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

Why is real wage growth anemic? It’s not because of a skills shortage

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

Tell Congress to squash Trump’s tip theft rule

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

The Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the fiduciary rule: A year in review

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

Year one of the Trump administration: Normalizing itself by working for the top 1 percent

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

Women would lose $4.6 billion in earned tips if the administration’s ‘tip stealing’ rule is finalized: Overall, workers would lose $5.8 billion

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

Employers would pocket $5.8 billion of workers’ tips under Trump administration’s proposed ‘tip stealing’ rule

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

Federal overtime pay bill would boost paychecks by $1.2 billion dollars annually

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

Proposed rule would protect employers who steal workers’ hard-earned tips

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