Of the roughly 1.2 million people incarcerated in state and federal prisons today, nearly 800,000 are prison laborers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In Southern states especially, where incarceration rates are the highest and prison wages are lowest, this labor is strikingly similar to the conditions faced by slaves less than 200 years ago.
Quinnipiac Chronicle
September 14, 2026
On average, teacher salaries were about 27% lower than those of college graduates working in other professions in 2024, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That gap was 6.1% in 1996.
Michigan Independent
September 14, 2026
Economic Policy Institute data has found that she isn’t alone as unemployment among young college graduates and young workers without a degree has been rising slightly faster than the overall unemployment rate.
Newsweek
September 14, 2026
It’s no secret that our weak, outdated labor law is failing the millions of workers who want unions at their workplaces. Republicans have repeatedly blocked federal legislation to strengthen the law. This untenable situation has been made worse by President Trump destroying the independence of the National Labor Relations Board, firing Gwynne Wilcox and installing appointees who are poised to further weaken workers’ rights.
Federal legislation to restore and strengthen workers’ ability to form and join unions is urgently needed. Our country needs a strong, vibrant, worker-driven labor movement. Unions are good for all workers. The improved wages and benefits unionized workers win at the bargaining table have positive spillover benefits for non-union workers. And unions are crucial to our democracy, as a check on corporate power and as active participants in elections and public policy. Where unions are strong, states have better labor standards, higher investments in healthcare and education, and less voter suppression, among other benefits.
On Labor
September 14, 2026
“The average CEO makes 300 times what their average worker makes — three hundred times. And it’s only getting worse,” Brown said. “It’s getting worse because Jon Husted is in the middle of rigging this system.”
According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, CEOs make 281 times their average employee at 350 of the largest publicly traded U.S. companies by revenue in 2024. The report found that in 1965, CEOs were paid 21 times that of an average employee.
Dayton Daily News
September 14, 2026
“Slowing nominal wage growth suggests workers don’t have the leverage to bid up their wages. Even with low unemployment, the depressed hires rate means workers aren’t finding new jobs to raise their wages,” Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote on Bluesky.
HR Brew
September 14, 2026
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that Black women experienced a net loss of 113,000 jobs during 2025. The Economic Policy Institute found one of the sharpest one-year declines in Black women’s employment in a quarter century, with particularly significant losses among college-educated and public-sector workers.
Essence
September 14, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute released a new tool calculating how much taxpayers in every U.S. state and county are paying for the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, and the numbers show a Colorado taxpayer is fronting $2,397 to cover direct enforcement costs.
9News (Denver)
September 14, 2026
CouponFollow wondered the same thing, which is why researchers at the site conducted and published a report that found the minimum cost of living in the country.
The report is based on an analysis of the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator — which estimates the yearly costs of things like housing and food, as well as taxes for a single adult living alone — as well as the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Researchers specifically focused 100 biggest metro areas in the country.
PennLive
September 14, 2026