EPI in the news

• 4 New England towns among 50 best places to retire

  A new report from the magazine Travel and Leisure highlighting the 50 best places in the country to retire included four New England towns on its list.

  The magazine partnered with financial website Investopedia to compile the rankings. Data from the Census Bureau, the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and more were used to rank cities based on cost of living and access to travel, healthcare, and entertainment.

  Journal Inquirer | May 13, 2025
• One school district’s answer to ongoing driver shortage? Drive the bus

  “The school bus driver shortage remains severe, and bus driver pay is getting worse,” according to a November 2024 blog post from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank “that works to counter rising inequality, low wages and weak benefits for working people.”

  There were 12.2% fewer school bus drivers on the road nationally in September 2024 than five years earlier, according to the institute. And the median school bus driver in 2023 earned 43% less than the median weekly wage for all workers while weekly earnings for bus drivers fell by 2.8% since 2019.

  Look Out Eugene Springfield | May 13, 2025
• High cost of child care is taxing for Long Islanders

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, New York State is the 15th most expensive state for infant care.

  News 12 Long Island | May 13, 2025
• What happens when employers have to pay a higher minimum wage

  At the federal level, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, called “a poverty wage” by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, because it equates to $15,650 in annual earnings for a single adult working full time, year-round, below the poverty threshold established by the Department of Health & Human Services.

  Crain's Chicago | May 13, 2025
• US and China agree to 90-day truce in trade war

  Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said, “The chaotic tariff policy is still doing damage. It’s still raising prices. It’s still undermining American manufacturing and hurting working families, and it’s still leading us on a path to recession.”

  Hearst TV | May 13, 2025
• Monthly inflation ticks up slightly in April as tariffs kick in

  Currently, the Trump administration is negotiating a trade deal with China, agreeing to a 90-day truce. During that, many companies are likely stockpiling on goods, leading to increased trade and purchasing but offering minimal relief for inflation.

  “It takes so long for orders to be placed, to be put on a ship, to make it across the ocean and then to make it to their destinations. In the United States, it takes a long time to plan for those things,” Adam Hersh from the Economic Policy Institute said. “Ninety days of uncertainty about what will happen next is not a lot of confidence for importers.”

  Hearst TV | May 13, 2025
• The Looming Black Job Crisis: How AI and Automation Could Widen Economic Gaps

  The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) echoes these concerns, pointing out that Black workers are overrepresented in low-wage positions that are rapidly being phased out by technology. Approximately 24% of Black workers are employed in administrative, production, and service roles that automation threatens to eliminate. With fewer resources to upskill or transition into tech-driven industries, the community faces a looming crisis of economic displacement.

  BET.com | May 13, 2025

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