Menu

Media

We are changing the conversation around our democracy and economy by telling influential new stories about our country and its people. Get our latest media updates here.

Minority Retail Workers Earn Lower Wages Than White Colleagues

A recent study released by public policy group Demos and the NAACP found that retailers pay black and Hispanic full-time salespeople just 75 percent of what they pay white employees in the same positions. When it comes to cashiers, black and Hispanics make about 90 percent of what their white colleagues earn.
 
Currently, there are 10 million non-Hispanic whites, 2. 3 million Hispanics, 1.9 million African Americans and 800,000 Asian workers in the retail industry.
In the media
Courtney Connley

Inequality & Student Loan Debt: 5 Troubling Stats

The rising cost of attending college has had a serious impact on the finances of most students and their families, but the burden has been distributed unequally.
In the media
Christine DiGangi

How Automatic Voter Registration Would Change America

Automatic registration works by shifting the onus of registration from the individual to the government. 

Blog
Sean McElwee

Beyond Colorblind—Retail’s Opportunity to Advance Racial Equity

On Monday the Supreme Court handed down a decision against Abercrombie & Fitch, ruling 8-1 that the retailer’s “look policy” discriminated against a job applicant on the basis of religion. The policy required that staff conform to the company’s ‘All-American’ brand image, and the job applicant was a young All-American Muslim woman who came to her interview wearing the headscarf she dons as part of her religious observation. To the company’s hiring managers, covering your head was not Abercrombie cool.

Blog
Catherine Ruetschlin

New Study Shows Black and Latino Retail Workers Are Paid Less Than White Employees

A new study shows that black and Latino retail workers not only earn less than their white counterparts, but they're also less likely to be promoted or given full-time roles, the Associated Press reports.
 
The study, conducted by the NAACP and public policy organization Demos, found that in major positions held by retail workers — cashiers, salespeople, and first-line managers — black employees are paid the least, followed by Latinos.
 
On average, black cashiers are paid $9.17 per hour, with salespeople averaging
In the media
Katherine Santana

Why Universal Voter Registration Matters

Last night, Hillary Clinton announced several important voting reforms: expanded early voting, an end to voter ID laws, felon voting rights restoration and making election day a federal holiday. Most importantly, she came out in favor of universal, automatic voter registration.

In the media
Sean McElwee

Local Governments Will Need Support for Election Reforms

Yesterday, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton visited Texas Southern University, a historically black college in Houston, where she called for stronger election administration practices to protect voters. Along with asking Congress to reboot the Voting Rights Act—which had “its heart … ripped out” by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, Clinton said—she called for mandatory voter registration and at least 20 days of early voting.

In the media
Brentin Mock

Study Shows Latinos in Retail Are Paid and Promoted Less Than Whites

As 2016 Republican frontrunners continue to dismiss the wage gap as a speculative topic, a new study published on Tuesday further proves just how real the rift is for people of color.

In the media
Raquel Reichard

On Two-Year Anniversary of Blow To VRA, New Evidence That Voter ID Laws are Racially Biased

As we near the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act and the subsequent failure of Congress to restore it, Demos has found new evidence of racial bias in the passage of voter ID laws.

Blog
Sean McElwee