The odds that Republican House Speaker John Boehner will allow a vote on raising the minimum wage remain as low as ever, but some large retailers are already raising the wage on their own initiative. On Wednesday, clothing chain Gap Inc. announced it would be raising its base wage from $9 to $10 per hour next year, directly benefiting as much as 72% of its hourly workforce.
"No one who works full-time should have to raise their children in poverty," Senator Barbara Boxer said. She was talking about raising the minimum wage during aspeech to the Commonwealth Club of California. In addition to citing the moral reason the federal minimum wage deserves a second look, she also made an economic argument. "When working people have a little more in their paychecks, they spend a little more in their communities. So that's what we're trying to do," she added.
Heather McGhee, president of Demos: When Sheryl Sandberg and Jill Abramson—women leading powerful institutions in male-dominated industries—ignite our most robust media conversations about gender equality, we feminists face a quandary. Of course feminists want women who are tantalizingly close to the top to break through, and of course we know that the paucity of women leading our institutions is a glaring symbol of enduring gender hierarchy. But women will not succeed in dismantling one hierarchy by climbing to the top of another.
Today's polarized debates about the role of government often boil down to a single issue: the size of government compared with the size of the overall economy, as measured in gross domestic product.
Stymied by the partisan gridlock, President Obama’s recent directives to bar federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees and to cut carbon pollution are bold examples of how presidents have used their executive powers to address critical issues when Congress has failed to adopt much-needed legislation.
To Bene’t Holmes, the White House Summit on Working Families was personal, not just another event designed by President Obama and his fellow Democrats to draw a policy or political contrast with Republicans this election year.
“I believed everything he said,” the 25-year-old single mom said of the president’s pitch.
Juneteenth isn't just about celebrating freedom — it's a reminder of the moral consequences of power-hoarding systems and what communities can do for themselves. Learn why that lesson matters more than ever today.
"These cuts to lifesaving safety net programs and critical infrastructure, are not meant to improve the lives of everyday Americans, but instead to subsidize tax giveaways for the wealthiest elite."
In May, Dēmos held a national convening of financial justice leaders to reimagine our financial systems and build community wealth through public banks. These are our top takeaways.
This anniversary provides an opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with their history and to recommit ourselves to the work of ensuring their enforcement.
From the heart of economic justice advocacy to the corridors of the Department of Labor, Gould-Werth's journey exemplifies the power of leveraging research in the service of equity and community.
This case study examines how community leaders forced the city of Pittsburgh to provide safe, accessible, and affordable water—and developed an accountability model in the process, by which ordinary people can oversee the public water utility.
Today, the public policy organization Demos announced the addition of three Senior Fellows whose work spans the areas of consumer protection, domestic family policy and global public health.
Instead of spending trillions to widen disparities, Congress could have made childcare more affordable, improved the nation’s crumbling housing stock, and created a much-overdue program for paid family and medical leave.
Statistics from NCES reveal how financial instability during college can be prolonged after leaving, as borrowing compounds with higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and lower pay.
Young adults are in a critical period of change and choices, as they confront the decisions that will pave the way to their futures. But the generation coming into its own in the aftermath of the Great Recession faces challenges that threaten to undermine even the best laid plans.
New Yorkers shut out of a job by employment credit checks spoke out and told their stories, expressing hope that New York City would build on its recent success banning discrimination against the unemployed in hiring to also put an end to credit discrimination.
