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.
Associated Press
September 23, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute reports about 600,000 H-1B workers are employed by 50,000 U.S. companies. USCIS data shows roughly 70% of H-1B workers first came to America as international students.
WXYZ Detroit
September 23, 2025
Immigration expert Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute explains that this commission is not a good solution to the problems that exist with this visa. “There will be unintended consequences; there are better ways to fix the problems,” he says. Costa criticizes the fact that the current rules do not prevent lower wages in the sector for those who hold this visa, that employment consulting firms benefit, and that there is no real search for native workers to fill the positions. However, the fact that it has these and other flaws cannot be fixed with a price increase, he argues.
El Pais
September 23, 2025
Meanwhile, leaders on the left, like Bernie Sanders, have voiced concerns that the system is exploitative. A 2020 study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that most H-1B employers pay migrant workers less than market rate salaries. And on the right, leaders like Steve Bannon fear that the system takes jobs from Americans.
Time Magazine
September 23, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute noted in its analysis of the rising unemployment rates that federal job cuts have frequently been cited as a contributing factor for the employment losses of Black women due to their relative overrepresentation in that sector.
Black Enterprise
September 22, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute noted earlier this year that “tariffs are most effective when they focus on well-defined and narrowly tailored goals, they work best as part of a larger strategy.”
Public Radio Tulsa
September 22, 2025
The program requires employers to pay H-1B workers, at a minimum, either the average wage for the job and the city where it is based, or the average wage of American-born workers doing the same job. Companies are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Still, about 60 percent of the positions paid “well below” the local median wage for the occupation in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which cited the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
New York Times
September 22, 2025
The program requires employers to pay H-1B workers, at a minimum, either the average wage for the job and the city where it is based, or the average wage of U.S.-born workers doing the same job. Companies are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Still, about 60% of the positions paid “well below” the local median wage for the occupation in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which cited the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
The Economic Times
September 22, 2025
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) recently published its position after a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) came out on the H-2B visa program.
The think tank stated in its report that the H-2B system has become “deeply flawed,” leading to workforce issues.
Meat Poultry
September 22, 2025
Think tanks like Brookings (widely viewed as centrist to liberal) and the Economic Policy Institute (widely viewed as liberal) argue that without coordinated action, the middle class will continue to erode—making affordability less about choices and more about structural barriers. Still, how to pay for those investments fuels sharp political debates.
Investopedia
September 22, 2025