Blog Posts  (Page25)

As another round of coordinated minimum wage protests occur, the consequences of dramatic starter wage increases — including lost jobs, reduced hours, and business closures — are playing out in real time. EPI has been documenting these consequences through its project Faces of $15 and has released four new mini-documentaries featuring these victims.

While the success of minimum wage ballot measures this election cycle might suggest a renaissance in state grassroots passion, a closer look at the financing of the associated ballot committees reveals an out-of-state funding apparatus. Arizona, Maine, and Colorado saw an ocean-sized inflow of out-of-state cash to fund their pro-hike committees…

The debate over whether to raise Maine’s minimum wage by 60 percent (and raise its tipped minimum wage by over 200 percent) is a study in contrasts. On the one side, advocates for the extreme wage increase have been powered by five- and six-figure checks flooding in from out-of-state donors. We previously…

In the pantheon of PAC names, “Mainers for Fair Wages” must rank among the least offensive in American electoral history. However, their benign name hides that which their campaign finance disclosure forms reveal: “Mainers for Fair Wages” is fueled by out-of-state money. EPI analyzed data from the Maine Ethics Commission…

Over Labor Day weekend, calls for an increase in the minimum wage reached a fever pitch. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez joined with labor groups in an attempt to shame politicians that do not support a federal wage hike. Our latest ad, which ran on Thursday in the St. Louis Post Dispatch,…

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is currently deciding whether or not to sign a $15 minimum wage into law, and the Employment Policies Institute today released a new commercial that should help him make his decision. Earlier this year, EPI released an analysis by Drs. David Macpherson of Trinity…

A new study released by the Employment Policies Institute, authored by Dr. Thomas Ahn of the University of Kentucky, finds that Connecticut’s paid sick leave law hasn’t delivered on its proponents’ promise that “everybody benefits.” Instead, the evidence from Connecticut suggests that the mandate actually reduced work hours for…

A $12 minimum wage will cost the state of Maine at least 4,000 jobs, but that hasn’t kept proponents in the state from advancing bad arguments to support it. Consider a recent release by the labor union-backed National Employment Law Project (NELP), which argues that large businesses rather than…

The Democratic Party Platform calls for a $15 federal minimum wage, and many attendees at last week’s Democratic National Convention extolled its benefits.  In endorsing presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders praised her for “understand[ing] that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage.” But none mentioned its…

California is in the process of ratcheting up its minimum wage from $10 an hour to $15 by 2022, and the hikes are making it tough for small businesses to stay afloat. Just last week, the 25-year-old Roseville brick-and-mortar The Almost Perfect Bookstore was forced to close up shop and resort to online-only…