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Article Artículo

Latin America and the Caribbean

Venezuela

World

U.S. Media Continues to Treat Capriles’ Complaints Seriously Despite Lack of Evidence

As we have noted previously, statistical analysis shows that Venezuelan opposition challenger Henrique Capriles has an almost impossible chance of seeing the April 14 election result change through a full audit of voting machines, as he had demanded.

We have issued two press releases about this, as well as our full paper detailing our calculations step-by-step, and CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot had an op-ed on this in Aljazeera English. Mark also presented these findings at a recent high-profile conference at the Celso Furtado Center in Rio. Despite being reported in a variety of Latin American and Spanish media, including Spanish newspaper El País, Argentine media outlet Télam, and Venezuela’s Panorama, the U.S. media has ignored this important part of the story. We have corresponded with several reporters who initially expressed interest in the one-in-25-thousand-trillion figure. None of them has since cited the statistical improbability of Capriles’ seeing the election results change through the full audit, nor have other major U.S. media outlets. One reporter writing for a major U.S. newspaper has told us that his editors refuse to publish anything related to our statistical analysis or regarding the audit and its significance more generally.

Henrique Capriles’ recent comments demonstrate why the ongoing vote audit, and more importantly, the first audit (conducted on April 14) is still relevant. In an El Pais article from May 9, Capriles says that 400,000 more people voted for him than Maduro, and that therefore the CNE’s vote count must have been wrong:

“If they rescind the electoral records we have questioned in the electoral dispute we have filed with the Supreme Court - which make up 55.4 percent of the votes cast – we would win the elections by 400,000 votes, two percent in our favor. And that’s without going into details,” he says with righteous conviction.

It appears that Capriles is still alleging the vote count was stolen in a way that would have been detectable in the first audit, and hence the statistical analysis still applies.  If tens of thousands of voters voted multiple times, it would be very difficult to stuff the receipt boxes to match the multiple voting, without having some discrepancies between the machine and the paper count. The receipt boxes are in plain sight of all observers and it would be impossible for a voter to stuff multiple pieces of paper through the thin slot without anyone seeing. It would also be impossible to vote more than once without not only the collaboration of observers to fix the machines to allow this, but a conspiracy involving tens of thousands of people, with no subsequent leaks.

CEPR / May 20, 2013

Article Artículo

Workers

Young College Graduates: Unpaid Internships

Internships can be great opportunities for undergraduates or recent college graduates to gain career-related experiences or skills. Additionally, these learning experiences can improve trainees’ chances of future employment as they develop networks and connections. But, the widespread use of unpaid internships also raises legal and ethical questions, especially in the for-profit sector. Unpaid internships at non-profit organizations and government bodies also deserve attention, but these programs are not subject to the same rules as at for-profit, private businesses because interns can be considered “volunteering” their time.

The Obama administration had considered cracking down on illegal unpaid internships, which perhaps prompted the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to release a memo that clarifies what constitutes a legal unpaid internship with a six-part test.

  1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training, which would be given in an educational environment;
  2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
  3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
  4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
  5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
  6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

Recently, over 3,000 former unpaid interns of the Hearst Corporation filed a class action lawsuit against the magazine business. The former interns argued they had been doing the work of paid employees and the “unpaid” classification was misused and illegal.  The lines between a mutually beneficial learning experience and free labor have thus become increasingly blurred as more businesses have adopted unpaid internships in recent years. It appears likely that many other for-profit organizations either openly ignore the six-part test or bend the rules in order to avoid paying for work or any other benefits.

CEPR and Will Kimball / May 20, 2013

Article Artículo

Economic Growth

Inequality

Workers

Labor Market Policy Research Reports, April 27 – May 17, 2013

The following are the most recent labor market policy research reports:


Center for American Progress

No Justice for the Injured
Billy Corriher

The Importance of Preschool and Child Care for Working Mothers
Sarah Jane Glynn and Jane Farrell


Demos

Underwriting Bad Jobs: How Our Tax Dollars Are Funding Low-Wage Work and Fueling Inequality
Amy Traub and Robert Hiltonsmith         


Economic Policy Institute

Ongoing Joblessness in Texas: African American and Hispanic Unemployment Rates Far Exceed the White Unemployment Rate in the State
Mary Gable and Douglas Hall

Ongoing Joblessness in Michigan: Unemployment Rate for African Americans Tops in Nation, More Than Double the State’s White Rate
Mary Gable and Douglas Hall

Ongoing Joblessness in Mississippi: Unemployment Rate for African Americans Ninth in Nation, More Than Double the state’s White Rate
Mary Gable

Ongoing Joblessness in New Mexico: Unemployment Rate for Hispanics Far Exceeds the State’s White Rate
Mary Gable

Ongoing Joblessness in North Carolina: Unemployment Rate for African Americans Fourth in Nation, More Than Double the State’s White Rate
Mary Gable and Douglas Hall

CEPR and Will Kimball / May 17, 2013