More than 8.3 million workers are expected to benefit from increases in 19 states, according to a December report from the Economic Policy Institute. The organization estimates the changes will add about $5billion in earnings nationwide.
HR Grapevine
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, “Right-to-Work” states generally have lower wages and are less likely to have health care and pensions than non-Right-to-Work states.
Cardinal News (Virginia)
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, Arizona legislators underestimated the cost of their voucher program by tenfold. It was initially projected to cost $65 million and is now upwards of $708 million. The overruns are now leading to astate budget crisis.
KERA
January 12, 2026
“It’s a huge conflict of interest that sponsors are supposed to be labor recruiters and then employment law enforcers,” said Daniel Costa, the director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Sponsors have a financial incentive to take the side of the employer. The young people come and go, but the employers are a relationship the sponsors have to keep forever.”
He added: “It’s a recipe for disaster.”
New York Times
January 12, 2026
The average cost of child care is $15,394 a year in New York, the sixth-most expensive state in the nation, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute.
The Center Square
January 9, 2026
A total of 19 states increased their minimums in 2026, each of them landing between $10 an hour and $18 an hour. Nationwide, at least 30 states as well as Washington, D.C., have minimum wages that exceed the federal minimum, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.
HR Dive
January 9, 2026
The Trump economy is hammering black workers particularly hard:
Among demographic groups, the worst deterioration in the job market has been for Black workers, said Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.
Dakota Free Press
January 9, 2026
- The Economic Policy Institute looks at the new “Trump Account” program that the administration claims will fight child poverty. Instead, EPI finds that “Trump’s voluntary savings accounts are poised to widen wealth disparities for generations. The more resource-constrained families will be unable to keep up with the contributions of their more affluent peers—broadening inequities in wealth even further.”
The Pitch from Civic Ventures
January 9, 2026