The argument of job losses has frequently been made in opposition to minimum wage increases. The federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 an hour since 2009, although by 2027 nearly half of all US workers will live in a state with at least a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
But a review by the Economic Policy Institute in September found this narrative to be “largely wrong”, citing that most minimum wage studies find little to no effect on employment.
The Guardian
January 27, 2025
Costco calculates that in 2024, Vachris made 262 times more than the median worker, including both full- and part-time staff. His pay was 192 times what the median full-time employee receives.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average CEO of the 350 largest public companies was paid 290 times more than the typical worker.
Barron’s
January 27, 2025
After nominees for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet this week endorsed work requirements for social safety net programs, an economic think tank released a Friday report detailing the policy’s drawbacks.
“Work requirements for safety net programs are a punitive solution that solves no real problem,” said Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist and report author Hilary Wething in a statement about her new publication.
“They do not reliably increase employment, but they do kick people off essential benefits like food assistance and healthcare,” she stressed. “If policymakers are genuinely concerned about improving access to work, they should support policies like affordable child- and eldercare.”
Common Dreams
January 27, 2025
Data shows workers in right-to-work states make 3.2 percent less on average than their counterparts in similar positions in non-right-to-work states — $1,670 per year for a full-time worker — according to the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. On job growth, the Economic Policy Institute draws a different conclusion from the Harvard study cited by Cline, saying there are “no measurable employment advantages between RTW and non-RTW states.”
The Keene Sentinel
January 27, 2025
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, citing the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
New York Times
January 27, 2025
“Modern youth sub-minimum wages are a persistent relic of employers’ past and present interest in children as pool of exploitable, low-wage workers,” argued 2024 article from the Economic Policy Institute.
The Maine Wire
January 27, 2025
“I think it is actually terrible policy,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, and a labor economist in the Obama administration. “If you really want to help tip workers, do it directly through raising the federal minimum wage and phasing out the tipped minimum wage.”
She says she’s concerned this policy might slow the momentum to overhaul the tip worker minimum wage.
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13, though certain states have set a higher benchmark.
NPR
January 27, 2025
Then again, Trump’s first term was a series of constant attacks on workers’ rights — in 2020 the Economic Policy Institute outlined the first Trump administration’s 50 most egregious attacks on working people.
Clean Technica
January 27, 2025
After nominees for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet this week endorsed work requirements for social safety net programs, an economic think tank released a Friday report detailing the policy’s drawbacks.
“Work requirements for safety net programs are a punitive solution that solves no real problem,” said Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist and report author Hilary Wething in a statement about her new publication.
“They do not reliably increase employment, but they do kick people off essential benefits like food assistance and healthcare,” she stressed. “If policymakers are genuinely concerned about improving access to work, they should support policies like affordable child- and eldercare.”
Common Dreams
January 27, 2025
Data shows workers in right-to-work states make 3.2 percent less on average than their counterparts in similar positions in non-right-to-work states — $1,670 per year for a full-time worker — according to the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. On job growth, the Economic Policy Institute draws a different conclusion from the Harvard study cited by Cline, saying there are “no measurable employment advantages between RTW and non-RTW states.”
The Keene Sentinel
January 27, 2025