Clips | Economic Policy Institute

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

Wall Street Journal — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:59:08 +0000

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.

H-1B Visa Data Shows How Much Immigrant Workers Earn Compared to Americans

Newsweek — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:59:01 +0000

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.

Inflation Roars as Iran War Jacks Up Energy Prices

The Fiscal Times — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:59 +0000

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.”

Daycare giant closes 90 locations, plans more

The Street — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:43 +0000

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.

Michigan House proposal would put young workers at risk

Michigan Advance — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:42 +0000

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.

What to know about Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee and the legal rebuke that followed

Associated Press — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:32 +0000

“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.

The Rick Smith Show 6-8-2026

Rick Smith Show — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:28 +0000

Features interview with Ben Zipperer on new minimum wage proposal.

Economist sends troubling message on economy after strong May jobs report

The Street — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:19 +0000

Maybe investors were as unimpressed with the top-line economic numbers from the jobs report as EPI senior economist Elise Gould was. Gould took to Bluesky to highlight that despite the 172,000 jobs added in the month, nominal wage growth “continued to decelerate, further exacerbating affordability as prices rise.” Gould highlighted that since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the manufacturing sector has shed 68,000 jobs, and the federal government has cut another 333,000 jobs.

Subdivided

Dissent Magazine — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:18 +0000

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1 percent captured 77.5 percent of the state’s income growth between 2009 and 2015. Yet alongside Florida’s newly minted deep-red status, there have still been internal calls for progressive reform.

LaborLab’s Bob Funk on the $1.7 Billion Union Busting Industry and How Workers Can Fight Back

America's Work Force Union Podcast — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:11 +0000

On this episode of America’s Work Force Union Podcast, LaborLab founder Bob Funk breaks down a new report produced with the Economic Policy Institute on the scale and structure of the union avoidance industry — from the law firms that drag out contract negotiations for years to the healthcare systems spending millions on union busters while patients wait for beds.