Yesterday, the Virginia Senate Commerce and Labor Committee advanced a bill to repeal the commonwealth’s ban on collective bargaining for public sector workers on an 8-6 party line vote.
The bill would result in over 500,000 workers getting the right to collectively bargain, including teachers, firefighters, home care workers, and campus workers. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published a report last month looking at how this legislation would benefit workers and Virginia more broadly.
“Data show that strong collective bargaining laws help states address persistent public-sector pay gaps, reduce staff vacancies and turnover, and lead to higher unionization rates,” EPI says.
Virginia Dogwood Newsletter
February 9, 2026
According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, roughly 50% of workers ages 50 to 70 hold physically demanding (50.3%) or high-pressure jobs (46.1%). If you’re suffering physically or mentally, claiming benefits at 62 could provide the opportunity you need to focus on your physical and mental health.
Motley Fool
February 9, 2026
But a study from the Economic Policy Institute found that for low-income adults, the main barriers to work are economic conditions outside of their control, and that work requirements in the past have failed to boost work in significant ways.
Prism Reports
February 9, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonpartisan think tank that works “to counter rising inequality, low wages, and weak benefits for working people,” says about 70 percent of workers in the United States between the ages of thirty-two and sixty-six who had incomes above the taxable maximum in 2024 would face more in benefit cuts than they would pay in higher taxes if the cap were scrapped. But the remaining 30 percent, EPI reports, would be better off financially if they took the hit in benefit cuts than they would be if they paid higher taxes.
The Progressive Magazine
February 9, 2026
Sources
Economic Policy Institute. The Productivity–Pay Gap
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap
Glass Empires By W. A. Lawrence Substack
February 9, 2026
The report used the 50-30-20 budgeting rule, allocating 50% of income to necessities, 30% to “wants,” and 20% to savings. Researchers also used data from the Economic Policy Institute to come up with the amount of money to live comfortably.
KSAT-San Antonio
February 9, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute called for a nationwide $17 minimum wage back in 2023. Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced a $20 per hour minimum wage proposal in 2024. But in 2025, the Pennsylvania House ultimately passed legislation that would have only raised the state minimum to at least $12 per hour in all counties, with select populous counties reaching $15.
TribLIVE
February 9, 2026
These policies harm everyone. They have created labor shortages in many states and industries. They have raised consumer prices for all Americans and are expected to reduce national GDP by more than 7 percent in future years, greater than the economic damage caused by the Great Recession. The Economic Policy Institute predicts that Trump’s goal of removing 4 million people from the country over the next four years would result in 2.6 million fewer jobs for U.S.-born workers.
The Hill
February 9, 2026
Higher productivity doesn’t always mean higher wages, however. Ever since the 1980s, wage growth has been held back by de-unionization and too much unemployment, said Ben Zipperer, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“When there’s more people trying to find a job, that means employers don’t have to work as hard to find workers, and that puts downward pressure on hourly pay,” Zipperer said.
That’s why wage growth hasn’t kept up with productivity growth, he said. “Workers are almost producing twice as much as they used to produce, in real terms since 1980 or 1979, whereas hourly pay basically grew by only a third of that.”
Marketplace
February 9, 2026
A 2025 analysis from the (left-leaning, pro-labor) Economic Policy Institute found that if Trump succeeds in his goal of deporting 4 million people in four years, the number of direct care workers would shrink by 400,000.
The Bulwark
February 9, 2026