EPI in the news

• UAW Stands By Man Flipped Off By Trump: ‘Workers Should Never Be Subjected To Vulgar Language’ [Update]

  While this entire event really challenges the limits of free speech in the workplace, I hope it also proves to be a great example of how unions can still protect workers’ rights. Union membership has dropped from a height of 37% of workers in the U.S. in 1957 (the apparent golden age we’re all itching to return to) down to 11% today, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

  Jalopnik | January 15, 2026
• Letters to the Editor: Child care in California is expensive enough. Will we allow it to get even worse?

  According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, child care already takes up about one-fifth of a median family’s income in California. With our state’s high cost of living, do we really expect them to shoulder any more sudden costs without dire consequences?

  LA Times | January 15, 2026
• Trump Deems USMCA ‘Irrelevant’ as Trade Deal Faces Renegotiation

  According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, the trade gap between the U.S. and its neighbors has widened significantly, reaching $263 billion in 2025, up from $125 billion in 2020. Despite the president’s stated aim of ushering in an American manufacturing renaissance, producers in the U.S. furloughed over 576,000 jobs since the agreement was signed into law. The nonpartisan think tank asserted that Mexico’s low wages and laxer worker rights laws and environmental standards have facilitated the offshoring of jobs.

  Sourcing Journal | January 15, 2026
• Trump’s Music Man Populism

  The Economic Policy Institute just released 47 discrete ways that Trump accelerated the affordability crisis over the past year, including by slashing labor protections that will cut wages, stripping collective-bargaining rights from more workers than any president in history, pausing projects that cost thousands of jobs, imposing tariffs, and of course, cutting trillions in benefits for working families in order to funnel tax cuts to the wealthy. The ongoing surge in health insurance premiums is a direct result of Republican failure to extend Biden-era Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies.

  American Prospect | January 15, 2026
• How much one parent needs to earn so the other can stay home in every U.S. state

  But that decision comes with a number of tradeoffs. Having one parent stay home may help the family save money on child care, which can cost more than college tuition in more than half of states, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. However, it could negatively impact that parent’s salary prospects or career growth if they later decide to return to work.

  CNBC | January 15, 2026
• Social Security isn’t actually “running out” of money

  To help clear things up, “Marketplace Morning Report” host Sabri Ben-Achour spoke with Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute about what the shortfall actually means. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

  Sabri Ben-Achour: Right now, how does Social Security pay for itself? Remind us.

  Monique Morrissey: Well, about 91% of Social Security outlays, so what they’re spending on benefits, comes directly from taxes on work — on workers — and employers pay the same amount. And that money goes into Social Security and gets spent immediately out for benefits.

  Marketplace | January 15, 2026
• Should Cities Link the Minimum Wage to Housing Costs?

  Giving localities the ability to set their own minimum wage rates above the state and federal levels allows officials to respond to local conditions, says David Cooper, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at EPI. When cities and state officials tie their minimum wage to inflation, a practice known as indexing, they also save themselves from having to vote on the issue repeatedly.

  “It’s automatic,” Cooper says. “No one needs to take votes on whether this is going to happen, it’s just on autopilot. And it works well for the business community, too, because they can very easily anticipate what their new wage bill is going to be year to year rather than having to budget for some large increase five years later when lawmakers get around to enacting a raise.”

  Governing Magazine | January 15, 2026

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