EPI Research (Page 8 )

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  By Big Labor and For Big Labor: A Case Study from San Francisco of Union Involvement in the Legislative Process

  November 2015

  Since early 2012, labor unions and the left-wing pressure groups they fund have attacked conservative policy organizations for assisting state and local legislators in developing legislation. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO in particular have loudly denounced “corporate interests” for funding these groups. However, many of the same unions and left-wing pressure groups employ nearly identical tactics to develop and enact liberal policies. San Francisco’s…
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  Survey of US Economists on a $15 Federal Minimum Wage

  November 2015

  The University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted a survey of economists for the Employment Policies Institute (EPI). The specific areas of interest are economists’ opinions on a $15 minimum wage. Invitation and reminder emails were sent to five hundred and fifty-five (555) US based economists from a list provided by EPI. EPI obtained the list in June 2015 from a database of roughly 1,400 prominent…
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  Early Experiences with Chicago’s July 1st Minimum Wage Increase

  June 2015

  In December 2014, the Chicago City Council approved a law raising the city’s minimum wage by nearly 60 percent, to $13 an hour, by 2019. A press release from the office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel trumpeted the wage hike as a boon for the city. Small business owners were less sure, expressing concerns about the unintended consequences of labor cost increases that couldn’t be offset through higher prices. The first stage of the…
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  Measuring the Cost of a Higher Minimum Wage for New York’s Fast Food Restaurants

  June 2015

  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in a New York Times op-ed this spring his intention to empanel a state wage board to consider a minimum wage increase specific to the fast food industry. All three members of the governor’s wage board—who represent the public, labor, and the business community—are on-record supporting a minimum wage increase, leading some critics to conclude that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Still, the board will…
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  Examining the Costs of the City of Oakland’s $12.25 Minimum Wage

  April 2015

  In November 2014, residents of the Bay Area cities of San Francisco and Oakland voted in favor of minimum wage increases for most businesses in the city limits. The San Francisco proposal will raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018; in Oakland, the minimum wage rose by 36 percent to $12.25 an hour on March 1st. (The Oakland proposal also included…
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  The Lasting Benefits of Early Work Experience

  August 2014

  The US labor market has recovered slowly but steadily in the years since the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. But for young adults between the ages of 16 and 19, the recovery has been tepid at best: In the five year period since the summer of 2008, youth unemployment has averaged a staggering 23.5 percent, and the seasonally-adjusted rate was still north of…