EPI in the news

• Amid statewide shortages, Minnesota’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day celebrates the work drivers do

  The Economic Policy Institute also reported in November that national school bus driver employment remains 9.5% below 2019 staffing numbers.

  Grand Forks Herald (Minnesota) | February 23, 2026
• Are Independent Contractors Safe?
  • In an article in the Economic Policy Institute, Adewale A. Maye, Daniel Perez, and Margaret Poydock at the institution explain that independent contractor status strips workers of minimum wage and overtime protections under the FLSA, and collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Maye and several coauthors estimate that misclassified construction workers lose up to $19,526 annually, while truck drivers lose as much as $21,532 in wages and benefits. To curb these losses, the Maye team urges policymakers to adopt a strong, uniform legal test for employee status and to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would make it harder for employers to misclassify workers to prevent unionization.
  The Regulatory Review | February 23, 2026
• Democrats decry meager medical care for detainees in funding fight

  At the same time, the Trump administration has weakened oversight of the conditions and health services at detention centers. It cut staff at the DHS Immigration Detention Ombudsman office, effectively shuttering most of its operations, according to a KFF analysis and the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on economic research.

  CNN.com | February 23, 2026
• Week in review: Black women saw greater employment losses than most

  Most clicked story of the week

  The employment rate of Black women fell by 1.4 percentage points to 55.7% in 2025, marking one of the sharpest one-year declines in the last 25 years, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. The months to come may make it clear whether the decline was “an early indication of more widespread job losses to come” or possibly “casualties of anti-equity backlash in action,” EPI said.

  HR Dive | February 23, 2026
• AI Could Cause Workers to Rise Up Against the Corporations Driving Them Into Poverty

  White-collar office drones and blue collar stiffs alike are both suffering through one of the harshest layoff periods since 2009. Recent polling, meanwhile, found that 71 percent of Americans fear AI will put “too many people out of work permanently.” And according to the Economic Policy Institute, more than more than 50 million American workers across all industries wanted union representation in 2025, but couldn’t get it.

  Futurism | February 23, 2026
• Manufacturing industry had over 300 workplace deaths in 2024

  Union membership in the U.S. increased by 463,000 across all industries in 2025, which the Economic Policy Institute said is the “highest level recorded in 16 years.”

  “The high favorability of unions in the U.S. makes sense when you consider the benefits unions provide for workers,” EPI said in its report. “When workers join together in a union and engage in collective bargaining, their wages, benefits, and working conditions improve.”

  Manufacturing Dive | February 23, 2026
• Corporate America’s New Slogan: Make More, Pay Less

  Wage Growth Is Lagging in the Middle

  Since 1979, real hourly wages for the median American worker have been the lowest of any income percentile

  Source: Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America Data Library

  Note: In 2025 dollars.

  Bloomberg | February 23, 2026

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