EPI in the news

• Deportation kills jobs for US-born citizens

  The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in a July 2025 report documents where and how the Trump’s anti-immigrant policies will destroy millions of jobs in both the construction industry and the child care industries, with subsequent labor force losses impacting women with children.

  If the Trump administration follows through on its goals of deporting four million people over four years: There will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers by the end of that time period, a drop in total U.S. employment of 3.6 percent.

  Jonesboro Sun (Arkansas) | April 1, 2026
• It’s time to fix the job crisis that put 300,000 Black women out of work

  Unemployment for Black women increased faster than that of any other group, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

  Houston Chronicle | April 1, 2026
• ‘Liberation Day’ led to trade deals, a ‘year of missed opportunities’

  Meanwhile, other nations are signing free trade agreements with each other, risking marginalization of the United States, Lincicome said. The United States’ size continues to make it an influential market, but the circumstances increase the cost of doing business here, said Adam Hersh, a Washington, D.C., economist formerly with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  “The United States is no longer a country that they can look to as a credible partner,” Hersh said. “And so they have to both hedge the risk of being exposed to the United States, politically, geo-strategically, economically, but also look for new relationships to develop to offset what they’re going to lose from the U.S.”

  Detroit News | April 1, 2026
• Impact of Education and Training on Economic Growth

  In the United States, education doesn’t always result in higher wages for all workers. For example, according to the Economic Policy Institute, Black workers face significant and growing wage gaps, with Black men paid only 71 cents and Black women just 64 cents for every $1 that White men earn.

  Investopedia | April 1, 2026
• Immigrants lead historic strike at JBS in the US.

  According to economist Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute, the problem is not immigration itself, but the lack of legal protection for these workers. Without stable status, many avoid reporting abuses for fear of deportation, which increases their vulnerability.

  According to him, the sector has become increasingly dependent on workers in more precarious conditions, which contributes to maintaining low wages and weak protection standards.

  DW Brazil | April 1, 2026
• If They Kill Your Vote, They Kill Your Wage, Your Healthcare, and Your Future

  Research from the Economic Policy Institute documents how the states with the most aggressive voter suppression are also the same states with the lowest wages, the weakest labor protections, and the highest rates of poverty.

  The Hartmann Report (Substack) | April 1, 2026
• Farmworker Advocates Grapple With Legacy Changes as California Replaces Chávez Holiday

  The reckoning comes as the U.S. Department of Labor issued a rule to make it cheaper for employers to hire seasonal foreign agricultural workers through H-2A visas — a policy the Economic Policy Institute estimates could drive down wages for farmworkers nationwide by more than $4.4 billion annually.

  …

  The UFW continues to fight well-resourced grower associations, sometimes successfully, said Daniel Costa, who directs immigration policy at the Economic Policy Institute and co-authored the H-2A wage rule analysis. The UFW helped beat a similar pay-cut policy during the first Trump administration, he added, which helped hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers.

  “They are punching above their weight for sure,” Costa said. “They’ve been able to leverage the attention that they’ve gotten over the years to really make a big impact.”

  KQED | April 1, 2026

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