EPI in the news

• Daycare giant closes 90 locations, plans more

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines “affordable” childcare as 7% or less of household income, the Economic Policy Institute notes. Yet Department of Labor data reveal that full-day care actually consumes 8.9% to 16% of a typical family’s median income. 

  The Street | June 10, 2026
• Michigan House proposal would put young workers at risk

  During fiscal year 2024-2025, the number of federal child labor violations uncovered were the highest they have been since the Great Recession. Meanwhile, according to the Economic Policy Institute, at least 13 states — including Michigan — have introduced bills weakening child labor protections so far this year and four states have enacted them.

  Michigan Advance | June 10, 2026
• What to know about Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee and the legal rebuke that followed

  “To take advantage of artificially low labor costs incentivized by the program, companies close their IT divisions, fire their American staff, and outsource IT jobs to lower-paid foreign workers,’’ the White House said in its proclamation last year. In a 2020 report, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that 60% of the H-1B positions certified by U.S. Labor Department are assigned wages below the median for the job.

  Associated Press | June 10, 2026
• The Rick Smith Show 6-8-2026

  Features interview with Ben Zipperer on new minimum wage proposal.

  Rick Smith Show | June 10, 2026
• Economist sends troubling message on economy after strong May jobs report

  Maybe investors were as unimpressed with the top-line economic numbers from the jobs report as EPI senior economist Elise Gould was. Gould took to Bluesky to highlight that despite the 172,000 jobs added in the month, nominal wage growth “continued to decelerate, further exacerbating affordability as prices rise.” Gould highlighted that since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the manufacturing sector has shed 68,000 jobs, and the federal government has cut another 333,000 jobs.

  The Street | June 10, 2026
• Subdivided

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1 percent captured 77.5 percent of the state’s income growth between 2009 and 2015. Yet alongside Florida’s newly minted deep-red status, there have still been internal calls for progressive reform. 

  Dissent Magazine | June 10, 2026
• LaborLab’s Bob Funk on the $1.7 Billion Union Busting Industry and How Workers Can Fight Back

  On this episode of America’s Work Force Union Podcast, LaborLab founder Bob Funk breaks down a new report produced with the Economic Policy Institute on the scale and structure of the union avoidance industry — from the law firms that drag out contract negotiations for years to the healthcare systems spending millions on union busters while patients wait for beds.

  America's Work Force Union Podcast | June 10, 2026

More EPI in the news