Research Roundup

CEO pay at large companies averaged $10.8 million in 2007, more than 364 times the pay of the average U.S. worker, with the top 20 private equity and hedge fund managers pocketing an average of $657.5 million each, or 22,255 times the pay of an average worker, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.  The report suggests ending tax subsidies for excessive executive pay, increasing income tax rates on the very wealthy, and denying government contracts to companies with wastefully high CEO pay.

A new Transportation Equity Network report, The Road to Jobs: Patterns of Employment in the Construction Industry in 18 Metropolitan Areas, highlights the critical role of construction jobs in offering decent-paying employment to non-college educated workers, yet African-Americans are underrepresented in this workforce. With a looming shortage of skilled construction labor, the report emphasizes there is a window of opportunity to fund skills training that will open up the industry to excluded minorities and women.

The California Budget Project (CBP) released a report, Hard Work and a Fair Shot, that details policies that help low-income working families make ends meet. Another CBP report intended to help guide California lawmakers as they pursue universal health care reform lays out what families can truly afford for health care when all needs that consume family resources are considered.  The report found that families with incomes below 200% of poverty will not be able to contribute anything to their health care and that even many families above 300% of poverty will need partial subsidies to afford care.