The State of Working America Podcast

In the sixth and final episode of the State of Working America Podcast's first season, Rhonda Sharpe, director of the Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race, talks about why we need to capture data in a way that makes real-world sense of social, economic and racial trends. __ Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race: http://www.wiserpolicy.org __ The State of Working America Podcast...

The ubiquitous nature of ride-sharing makes it easy to forget that much of Uber and Lyft's business model relies on skirting basic regulations in ways that harm drivers and passengers. That's the focus of this episode of the State of Working America Podcast, which features interviews with driver and activist Sergio Avedian and EPI Distinguished Fellow Larry Mishel, who has extensively researched a...

The U.S. manufacturing has been shrinking sharply in recent decades, but it’s not an accident or a historical inevitability. In Episode 4 of the State of Working America Podcast, host Pedro da Costa talks to Mickey Ray Williams, a Firestone plant worker in Gadsden, Alabama, about his experience of over two decades in the sector. The second portion of the show is an interview with Rob Scott, EPI’s...

EPI Policy Director Heidi Shierholz highlights all the ways that labor laws have been employed against workers over the years to curb their power and influence in the labor market. We talk about the fresh wave of strikes around the nation and the renewed excitement around labor organizing, as well as new legislation aimed at restoring some of the worker power that corporations have gradually chipp...

President Barack Obama’s former deputy labor secretary Chris Lu joins the State of Working America Podcast in Episode 2, which explores the decline of worker power in recent decades, changing workforce demographics and Donald Trump’s destructive anti-worker agenda. __ The State of Working America Podcast is part of EPI’s effort to raise workers’ voices to ensure they are heard in the economic poli...

The State of Working America Podcast’s debut episode features economist Valerie Wilson, from the Economic Policy Institute, discussing the central role race in the American economy. Wilson debunks the widely-held myth that education is an easy way to narrow the racial wage and wealth gap, explaining that structural racism runs much deeper, defining U.S. economic relations to their core. __ The Sta...

The State of Working America Podcast, by the Economic Policy Institute, is aimed at elevating workers’ voices in the economic debate. Communications Director Pedro da Costa breaks down what you can expect—and how to subscribe. Economic Policy Institute https://www.epi.org/podcast