EPI in the news

• Big pay raise for LA stadium workers is latest win for unions

  Nor has the action been solely in traditional labor strongholds, such as the Northeast and California. An analysis of Labor Department data from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, or EPI, found that the South added 214,000 unionized workers last year, compared with 249,000 for the rest of the country.

  “It’s not a blip, what’s going on—there is a sort of larger spark,” said EPI President Heidi Shierholz.

  Wall Street Journal | June 12, 2026
• H-1B Visa Data Shows How Much Immigrant Workers Earn Compared to Americans

  Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy and founder of U.S. Tech Workers, which has advocated for H-1B reforms, told Newsweek that he felt the analysis was not reliable.

  “USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] data and the Economic Policy Institute analyses have long shown that many H-1B jobs are certified at lower wage levels within their occupations, fueling concerns about wage suppression,” Lynn said. “It also overlooks the highly publicized instances of Americans being asked to train their H-1B replacements, Disney, Southern California Edison, AGI, etc., before being laid off.

  Newsweek | June 12, 2026
• Inflation Roars as Iran War Jacks Up Energy Prices

  Ben Zipperer of the Economic Policy Institute said the recent rise in inflation has wiped out a year and a half of wage growth, leaving workers with the same wages as in January 2025 on average. And there could be more pain ahead as higher energy prices start rippling through the economy.

  “So far, excessive inflation has been limited to energy and airfares,” Zipperer wrote. “But as long as the war continues, there is a heightened threat that price increases will spill over to the broader economy, triggering a more permanent increase in the cost of living and further reductions in real earnings.”

  The Fiscal Times | June 12, 2026
• 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026
• The Rick Smith Show 6-8-2026

  Features interview with Ben Zipperer on new minimum wage proposal.

  Rick Smith Show | June 12, 2026

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