Labor & Economic News Blog

Friday, September 20, 2013

Los Angeles DWP says it can't track millions in ratepayer money

DWP says it can't track millions in ratepayer money
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has directed an estimated $40 million in ratepayer money to two nonprofit groups charged with improving relations with the utility's largest employee union, but the agency claims to have scant information on how the public funds have been spent. 

 

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The minimum-wage muddle

The minimum-wage muddle
We’re now engaged in another divisive debate over the minimum wage and its offspring, the “living wage.” We’ve been here before, because both sides seem to have strong arguments. On the one hand, raising wages by government fiat seems a job-killer. Economics 101 teaches us that if you increase the price of something — including labor — people will buy less of it. On the other hand, guaranteeing that full-time work protects against poverty seems a decent standard. The present federal minimum ($7.25 an hour) doesn’t do this. At 40 hours a week, it amounts to $15,080 a year; that’s above the government’s poverty-line for a single person ($11,702 in 2011) but not for a family of four ($22,811).

 

Study Says America's Income Gap Widest Since Great Depression

Study Says America's Income Gap Widest Since Great Depression
An analysis of data from the Internal Revenue Service shows that incomes ... Study Says America's Income Gap Widest Since Great Depression.

 

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

The Audacity of the Fight for Higher Wages

The Audacity of the Fight for Higher Wages
With economic growth reflected in near-record profits but not in compensation, higher wages are a reasonable goal that should be translated ...

 

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