Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about the states and localities that are increasing their wage floors to at least $15 per hour for some or all employees misstated a claim in a report by the Economic Policy Institute. The report said that there will be more workers living in states with at least a $15 minimum wage this year than in states where the wage is $7.25. It did not say 2026 will be the first year that more Americans earn a minimum wage of at least $15 than earn a wage of $7.25.
New York Times
January 12, 2026
To put all of this in perspective: An estimated 26 million workers are paid less than $17 per hour, roughly 18% of the US workforce, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Yahoo Finance
January 12, 2026
On Tuesday, Olivier found some good news lost in the fog of war coverage: Millions of Americans are getting raises. That’s because 19 states increased their hourly minimum wage on Jan. 1, which will add an estimated $5 billion to workers’ pockets.
That’s a big deal, especially in a political moment fixated on affordability and prices. After all, the federal minimum wage has not budged from $7.25 an hour since 2009, and 20 states don’t go above that. In fact, this year’s wage hikes mean there “will be more workers in states with a $15 or greater minimum wage than in states with the federal minimum” for the first time, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
U.S. News & World Report
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, not extending ACA tax credits will disproportionately harm Black Americans, who have long experienced disparities in health coverage. If Thursday’s bill is not passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump, Black families would pay $740 million more in annual premium costs. The EPI reports that allowing the ACA credits to expire would also lead to more than 200 preventable Black deaths each year.
Thegrio.com
January 12, 2026
In Ventura County, a family with two adults and two children needs an annual income of $170,791 before taxes to afford their basic needs, according to the latest data from the Economic Policy Institute. As far-fetched as it sounds, even at this income, they’re living paycheck to paycheck.
Ventura County Star (California)
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 2026 is the first year where more workers live in a state with at least a $15 an hour minimum wage than the $7.25 an hour minimum wage.
MLive
January 12, 2026
On Jan. 1, more than 8.3 million workers got pay bumps as 19 states raised their minimum wages for the new year, the Economic Policy Institute reported. These changes mean there are more workers in states paying at least $15 per hour than there are workers in states with a federal minimum of $7.25.
GO Banking Rates
January 12, 2026
“Employers are not doing a lot of hiring right now. Workers are not quitting. There’s not a lot of churn in the labor market so it’s harder for workers to break in,” said Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.
In other words, low-hire, low-fire.
Marketplace
January 12, 2026
Economist Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute took a look at the jobs numbers and concluded the US labor market now is far weaker than the one Biden left Trump nearly one year ago.
“The slowdown in job growth this year is stark compared to 2024,” Gould wrote on Bluesky. “The average monthly gain was only 49,000 in 2025 compared to 168,000 in 2024. Over the last three months, average job growth was actually negative, meaning there are fewer jobs now than in September.”
Common Dreams
January 12, 2026