Racial wage gaps are wider today than in 1979 due largely to discrimination and growing income inequality, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute.
The average wage gap between black and white workers was 18.1 percent in 1979, with the gap widening to 26.7 percent in 2015, the left-leaning think tank reports.
Rutgers University economist William M. Rodgers III co-authored the report with Valerie Wilson, director of EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy.
“We’ve found that racial wage gaps are growing primarily due to discrimination — and other unmeasured and unobserved characteristics– along with rising inequality in general,” Rodgers said.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed a bill Friday that would have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for workers who assist people with developmental disabilities.
Despite having lost the Democratic presidential nomination, “the Bernie revolution” will continue with the “next phase” launching nationwide Wednesday night.
Some 2,600 watch parties and meetings are set to take place across the country tonight as former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses thousands of his supporters to “lay out some of the next steps we can take as a movement to empower a wave of progressive candidates this November and win the major upcoming fights for the values we share,” according to Our Revolution President Jeff Weaver, who also served as Sanders’ presidential campaign manager.
Workers who assist people with developmental disabilities in Illinois want the governor to sign a bill that would raise their minimum wage to $15 an hour.