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

Bringing Vitality to Mainstreet: How Immigrant Small Businesses Help Local Economies Grow

Immigrants are a little more likely to own businesses than their U.S.-born counterparts, but they are a lot more likely to own Main Street businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and barber shops, finds a new study released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Immigrants make up 16 percent of the labor force and 18 percent of business owners, but 28 percent of Main Street businesses (defined as retail, food services and accommodation, and neighborhood services such as nail salons, beauty shops, and gas stations).

“These are types of businesses that don’t often get a lot of attention from economic development officials. But anyone thinking about economic growth should pay attention: these businesses play a big role in neighborhood revitalization, and they can be an important economic step up for entrepreneurs,” says David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute and author of the report.

The report includes data on the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country, and focuses in depth on three case studies that hone in on ways state and local government can help make the most of of immigrant entrepreneurship: Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Nashville.

Contributing to the New Economy: New data show immigrants continue to be an asset to Virginia’s economy

Immigrant households are significant contributors to Virginia’s economy and help the state outperform the country as a whole in education, labor force participation, and household income.

Almost 40 percent of foreign-born Virginians age 25 or over have a bachelor’s degree, according to recently released 2013 American Community Survey data. That’s a much higher share than among adults in the U.S. as a whole, whether native-born or foreign-born.

Left Out Working Women of Florida

  • May 8, 2014

Florida’s female workforce earned an average annual salary of $11,260 below their male counterparts in 2013, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics1. Five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 women continue to earn 23.1% below men’s an average annual salary.

The Big Rig Overhaul: Restoring Middle-Class Jobs at America’s Ports Though Labor Law Enforcement

Our research found the dire working conditions of port truck drivers to have flowed from the practice of treating employees as if they were ‘independent contractors,’ an illegal practice called misclassification. At the time of our first report, there were practically no official government investigations to verify our findings despite a host of enforcement agencies being responsible for preventing misclassification.

That has now changed. Our findings match those coming from recent investigations of employment practices common in the industry by the United States Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Labor Relations Board, and various state agencies. More importantly, these investigations signal a new dynamic, one with practical ramifications for the organization of work in the industry as well as for broader discussions of inequality in this country.