Clips | Economic Policy Institute

Senior living and the ‘joint employer’ shuffle: a risky mix

McKnight’s Senior Living — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:12 +0000

The latest push from House Democrats urging the Department of Labor to withdraw its proposed rule revising the joint employer definition follows a familiar script.

Lawmakers, including Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), argue the proposal would narrow accountability in ways that could harm workers and small businesses, citing estimates that weaker standards could cost workers more than $1 billion annually, based on Economic Policy Institute analysis referenced in their letter to Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling.

Roblox Lawsuit Puts Rare Scrutiny on Alleged Digital Child Labor

Bloomberg Tax — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:11 +0000

It’s rare for workers to allege child labor violations via litigation, said Nina Mast, policy and economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. Violations are most often addressed by state or federal agencies, which often struggle to adequately enforce even traditional child labor restrictions, much less those involving newer technologies, she said.

Given funding cuts and limited staff in the US Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, “I would be surprised if they had the resources or specialized training to deal with cases like this, since it is so new,” Mast said.

$20 by 2030? Progressive think tank explores raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage

Wisconsin Public Radio — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:10 +0000

The report relies on analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

It projects that, if Wisconsin raised its minimum hourly wage to $20 by 2030, 458,800 Wisconsin workers would see higher wages, representing 16 percent of the state’s workforce. It also estimates that some 277,700 Wisconsin workers would be “indirectly affected” because, as people earning just above the minimum wage, the report argues that they would see raises as pay scales adjust upwards.

Do you make enough to cover the basics? How Florida ranks for wage gap

Sarasota Herald Tribune — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:09 +0000

Is your paycheck going far enough these days? If you live in Florida, it may not be stretching far enough.

An analysis by travel site Upgraded Points compared the median annual wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics with living wage estimates from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator for all 50 states and the largest 11 cities, along with a May 2026 survey of more than 2,400 Americans.

The FTC Just Forced One of the Largest Pest-Control Companies to Stop Using Noncompetes on 18,000 Workers

Inc. — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:08 +0000

“Noncompete agreements are pervasive,” Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank focused on labor and wage policy, told Inc. “By keeping workers from finding better opportunities, noncompete agreements stifle wages and reduce competition among businesses.”

A DC Wealth Tax Could Provide Relief for Black Residents

Inequality.org — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:07 +0000

The city’s economic woes compound upon its Black residents, who are overrepresented in poverty statistics. The Economic Policy Institute found that Black employment in the DMV region fell by 5.9 percent between 2024 and 2025, a decline which is directly attributable to the federal layoffs. Insufficient funding to safety net programs from the budget puts DC’s vulnerable Black communities further in danger.

Teachers Are Winning Raises. They’re Still Losing Ground.

Capital & Main — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:06 +0000

“It’s one thing to get educators into the profession, but to be able to keep them, we need to be paying them what other professions outside of education are making,” said Dale Templeton, director of collective bargaining for the National Education Association, the country’s largest union at about 3 million members. (Disclosure: NEA is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)

That isn’t happening. According to the most recent data from the Economic Policy Institute, the gap between average public school teacher pay and that of comparable college graduates working in other professions hit a record 27% in 2024. In 1996, the furthest year back before an interruption in data gathering, that gap sat at only 6%.

Welcome to America, World Cup visitors. Don’t forget to tip.

Axios — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:05 +0000

Paywall.

The 7 biggest deregulation actions Trump has taken

The Week — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:03 +0000

Just days after Trump took office again, the White House enacted perhaps its most consequential policy regarding deregulation. Trump’s Executive Order 14192, titled “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” established a 10-to-1 rule for federal agencies; it ordered that anytime an agency enacted a “new regulation, it shall identify at least 10 existing regulations to be repealed,” according to the order. The goal of the rule is to “alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people.”

The EO, beyond establishing deregulatory guidelines, “also requires more upfront disclosure of forthcoming rules,” said Forbes. The order led to a slew of actions being taken by federal agencies and also stated that all new regulations should have no cost. This is “effectively impossible to accomplish when issuing any regulation at all, as nearly every regulatory change represents some level of cost to come into compliance,” said the Economic Policy Institute.

New Bill Would Replace Time-and-a-Half With Double Pay for Overtime Hours

Texas Politics — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:03:02 +0000

According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the bill would affect more than 13 million workers nationwide.

Casar emphasized the push as a matter of basic fairness for workers who are logging extra hours but still struggling to get ahead. “After nearly 90 years, our labor laws need to be updated,” he said. “If you work overtime, this bill would put money in your pocket by requiring your employer to pay you double for extra hours.”