Guests:
Heidi Shierholz, president, Economic Policy Institute
Heather Long, chief economist, Navy Federal Credit Union
NPR 1A
April 13, 2026
“The overtime tax deduction will cut federal revenue by tens of billions of dollars, and potentially cost states hundreds of millions, depending on how they define taxable income,” according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) (5).
States can choose whether to follow federal tax cuts, including ‘no tax on overtime.’ For states that choose to adopt the federal policy, “the policy will substantially reduce funding for public services,” says the EPI.
MoneyWise
April 13, 2026
The union cited data from the Economic Policy Institute that identifies a “teacher pay penalty” — the wage gap between teacher salaries and salaries for their equally educated non-teaching peers. Washington’s teachers in 2024 had the 15th-highest pay penalty in the country, earning 28.1% less than those in other similarly-educated professions like nurses and accountants.
Tacoma News Tribune
April 13, 2026
Raising teacher pay is “necessary to improve educational outcomes and foster future economic stability of workers, their families, and communities across the U.S.,” according to a 2022 report by the Economic Policy Institute. Instead, Texas is paying for its failure to make this crucial investment.
Austin American-Statesman
April 13, 2026
Working families in Vermont are already saddled with some of the most expensive infant child care in the nation. A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute estimates that infant child care averages nearly $19,000 per year—well over $1,500 per month. This places Vermont 12th nationally regarding the cost of infant child care.
VT Digger
April 13, 2026
Although 7 in 10 Americans say they approve of labor unions, as long as they’re not taking their business elsewhere, corporations including Starbucks and Amazon continue to obstruct, delay, suppress and harass to avoid workers being represented. The pro-labor Economic Policy Institute noted that large employers already spend more than $400 million on “union avoidance” consultants annually to dissuade representation-curious workers.
San Antonio Current
April 13, 2026
Estimates calculated by the Economic Policy Institute show that farmworkers across the country stand to lose $4.4 to $5.4 billion annually because of the change.
Capitol News Illinois
April 13, 2026
The money could prove impactful for the more than 9.7 million Native people in the US, who have historically faced hurdles to career advancement, including geographic barriers that may limit job opportunities for those living in rural areas like Alaska and Oklahoma, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Native people also have fewer educational opportunities than other racial groups and are the least likely to complete college, the EPI reported.
As a result, Native populations typically have higher unemployment and lower average wages than other racial groups, the EPI found.
HR Brew
April 13, 2026
The first supposed end of globalization was the financial crisis of 2008. Then, in 2016, it was the Brexit referendum, which the Economic Policy Institute suggested could be “the end of globalization as we know it.”
The Washington Post
April 13, 2026
The loss of immigrant workers does not translate into jobs for U.S.-born workers, said Economic Policy Institute president Heidi Shierholz, adding that the Trump administration appears to be operating under an “absolutely false notion” that it does.
“If you deport a workforce of immigrant roofers and framers, fewer houses will be built, so U.S.-born electricians and plumbers also lose their jobs,” she said. “The impacts really ripple out.”
She also cited Economic Policy Institute research forecasting that if the administration succeeds in its goal of deporting 1 million immigrants a year, nearly 6 million jobs will be lost by the end of Trump’s term, including 2.6 million held by U.S.-born workers.
Travel Weekly
April 13, 2026