Labor unions are fighting in court a federal change that slashed minimum wages for H-2A workers, undercutting the domestic labor market, according to unions. The change dropped hourly wages from about $17.43 to a tiered structure, based on skill level, of $13.70 and $17.22, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
The Press Democrat
May 4, 2026
While undocumented laborers are being deported, the administration has made changes to the H-2A visa program to make it easier and less expensive for farms to hire temporary foreign labor. However, the Economic Policy Institute notes that farmers could lose as much as $3 billion in annual revenue because suppressed wages don’t address shortages.
GO Banking Rates
May 4, 2026
It’s May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, so there will be marches throughout the country, including a big one in downtown L.A. But what are the biggest challenges facing workers in the US today? Labor expert with the Economic Policy Institute Dave Kamper talks about it with L.A.’s Morning News.
KNX News Radio
May 4, 2026
By 1980, they had 9.5%, a number that would mostly continue to grow in the succeeding years, according to the Economic Policy Institute and WardsAuto.
Detroit Free Press
May 4, 2026
School systems have encountered a similar shortage, tracking a 9.5% decrease in bus drivers from 2019 to 2025, according to the economic policy institute. The high average age and rate of retirement among bus drivers, combined with the often complicated process of obtaining necessary training and licensing to become a driver, are commonly cited as reasons for the shortage.
Cardinal News (VA)
May 1, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, in the immediate three decades after World War II, workers saw their hourly compensation in line with the country’s productivity growth. That’s because during the height of the Cold War — when employers offered employees pensions and union participation was at its peak — corporate America was incentivized to offer labor a larger share of the profits as a way to counteract communism. However, when the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, so did the motivation from domestic CEOs to share profits with workers. The split between capital and labor began measurably in 1970, and the gap has only increased since.
LA Times
May 1, 2026
CEOs are paid an average of 281 times more than the typical worker, according to a September 2025 report by the Economic Policy Institute, with CEOs taking home an average total of $22.98 million in 2024. That’s up from a ratio of 60 just three and a half decades ago.
CNBC
May 1, 2026
At the same time, wages aren’t keeping up. According to the Economic Policy Institute, from 1948 to 1973, a technology-fueled 97% jump in individual productivity was coupled with an inflation-adjusted 91.3% increase in average wages. Between 1973 and 2013, however, individual productivity increased by another 74% while average hourly compensation increased by just 9% once adjusted for inflation.
Time Magazine
May 1, 2026