Worker, Racial, and Gender Justice

The best way to advance policies to raise living standards for working people is for diverse groups to recognize that they share more in common than not. Since class identity has often been racialized, one of the greatest challenges to rebuilding the economic power of the working class lies in establishing multiracial solidarity on a national scale. It is important to remember that the same special interest groups that fund the opposition to policies such as the minimum wage and paid sick leave, and that support efforts to undermine collective bargaining power, are often the same ones aligned with support of voter suppression tactics that limit voting among people of color, low-income individuals, students, seniors, and people with disabilities. The best way to advance the needed economic policies is for diverse groups to recognize that they share more in common than not and work together to achieve their overlapping and intersecting agendas. Getting to that point requires honesty and a collective reckoning about race, white privilege, and institutional racism, with respect to the costs and benefits to each of us.

Advancing policies that address persistent racial disparities while also tackling class inequality will require abandoning the zero-sum mindset that says one group’s set of issues is totally distinct from and in direct competition with another’s. Overcoming this trap begins with defining a broader view of how all the issues are related. It will take a considerable amount of ongoing effort to shift the dominant narrative from one that divides the masses to one that creates a new world of possibilities that benefits all of us.

Gender Wage Gap

Progress on closing the gap between men’s and women’s wages in the U.S. economy has been glacially slow in recent decades—and gender wage parity has become a top priority for those committed to ensuring the economic security of American women. This priority is absolutely essential. No matter how you cut it, the gender wage gap is real and it matters. That said, pay parity cannot be the only goal for those looking to improve the economic lot of American women.

A better workplace infrastructure means stronger labor standards that not only provide decent wages, but also let workers take care of themselves or family members when they are sick. Policies that help workers, particularly women, balance work and family could meaningfully improve their ability to participate in the labor force. And, this increase in labor force participation would mean more earnings for families and more economic activity for the country.

Income Inequality

We believe that by presenting data on income inequality by state, metro area, and county more states, regions, and cities will be persuaded to enact the bold policies America needs to become, once again, a land of opportunity for all. Read More.

Immigration

While immigration is among the most important issues the country faces, misperceptions persist about fundamental aspects of this crucial topic—such as the size and composition of the immigrant population, as well as how immigration affects the economy and the workforce. Read More.

Preemption

City governments are raising standards for working people—and state legislators are using preemption to lower them back down. Read More.

Criminal Legal System

Too often, criminal justice dysfunction undermines the prospects of thousands of people from successfully reentering the labor force. EARN groups document these problems and suggest policies that can open career pathways and strengthen the economic prospects—and therefore the long-term economic stability—of formerly incarcerated people and their families. Read More.

Publications

2017 Policy Priority: Reform excessive court fines and fees

Tens of thousands of Oklahomans enter the justice system each year and come out with thousands of dollars in debt to the court. For low-income Oklahomans, paying this debt can be nearly impossible as they attempt to rebuild their lives, and it often leads to a cycle of poverty and repeated incarceration. This system does nothing to improve public safety, but incurs high costs to law enforcement, jails, and the courts.

The costs charged to criminal defendants have skyrocketed in recent years as Oklahoma has increased numerous fees. Because most defendants can’t afford the skyrocketing charges, only a tiny fraction of criminal court debt is collected – by one judge’s estimate, only 5 to 11 percent.

Young Immigrants Vital to Georgia’s Workforce, Healthy Economy

Potential harsher federal immigration policies under the new presidential administration pose special concern for young Georgians whose parents brought them to the United States as children. A new federal crackdown threatens havoc for tens of thousands of young Georgians who now enjoy some limited legal protections which allow them to work, go to school and avoid deportation. In doing so, it could cause headaches for Georgia employers and deprive the state’s economy of thousands of productive, upwardly mobile workers.

An estimated 47,000 Georgians, most of them in their late teen years or 20s, are now enrolled or immediately eligible for a federal program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Created in 2012, DACA allows some undocumented immigrants brought here as children to live and work in the U.S. without threat of deportation. If the new presidential administration eliminates DACA as promised, these 47,000 young Georgians stand to lose their ability to work or access higher education. Federal authorities could also choose to deport them to the countries of their birth, even if they lived the bulk of their life in the U.S.

Expanding Access to Driver’s Licenses

Policies affecting access to driver’s licenses have changed in numerous ways over the years in
New York State, and around the country. Today, 12 states, plus the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico, make it possible for immigrants to get driver’s licenses without regard to their
immigration status.

Until 2003, New York State allowed residents to apply for driver’s licenses without regard to
their immigration status. Proposals are now pending in the New York State legislature that would
allow all state residents to apply for a driver’s license, irrespective of their immigration status.
Currently, 37 percent of unauthorized immigrants live in a place where they can get a driver’s
license; if a bill passed in New York, that share would increase to 44 percent.

Expanding Access to Driver’s Licenses: How Many Additional Cars Might Be Purchased?

If a policy was implemented allowing all age eligible immigrants, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a license, the Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that 97,000 additional cars would be purchased and registered in about a three year period, a one percent increase in the total number of vehicles in the state.

An innovative analysis compares the vehicle ownership rates in households that include an unauthorized immigrant with other immigrant households. The comparison adjusts for household income, number of adults per household, and the “take-up rate” for unauthorized immigrants getting licenses.