Business News Roundup, Sept. 1
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that advocates on behalf of low- and middle-income workers, calculates how much more nonunion private-sector workers would have earned in 2013 had private-sector union membership remained at 1979 levels.
Nonunion men with a high school diploma or less, the demographic most likely to be unionized, would have seen 9 percent higher wages, or an average of about $3,172 annually, had union membership in similar industries and regions remained at 1979 levels, according to the report.
Some studies have shown collective bargaining bolsters wages of all workers, regardless of union status, by establishing industry standards or encouraging nonunion employers to raise pay to discourage their workers from organizing.
“In the debates over the causes of wage stagnation, the decline in union power has not received nearly as much attention as globalization, technological change, and the slowdown in Americans’ educational attainment,” the authors write.
Composer Hans Zimmer, crooner R. Kelly and members of such bands as the Go-Go’s, the Black Crowes, Linkin Park and Three 6 Mafia are supporting Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and T.I. in their appeal in the ongoing legal dispute over the hit song “Blurred Lines.”
More than 200 musicians filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to express concern about the ruling last year in a case brought by the children of Marvin Gaye, who sued for copyright infringement claiming “Blurred Lines” copied Gaye’s hit “Got to Give It Up.”
The musicians said the ruling could have “adverse impact on their own creativity, on the creativity of future artists, and on the music industry in general.”
A tiny piece of debris has punched a gaping hole in the solar panel of one of its Earth observation satellites, causing visible damage but not enough to affect its routine operations, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.
The unknown particle slammed into the back of a solar panel on Copernicus Sentinel-1A on Aug. 23.
Using on-board cameras, engineers have determined that the hole is about 16 inches in diameter.
More Americans signed contracts to purchase homes in July, a sign that demand for home ownership remains strong despite a shortage of listings on the market.
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 1.3 percent in July to 111.3, the highest reading since April.
Housing has staged a solid rebound in prices and sales this year, but the real estate market faces potential challenges as fewer properties are being listed for sale.