“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
The Big Number
The number of states that increased their minimum wages starting this month, providing a pay bump to an estimated 8.3 million U.S. workers. For the first time, more workers now live in states that pay $15 or higher per hour than those that have kept the $7.25 minimum, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
WSJ Careers & Leadership newsletter
January 8, 2026
As of Jan. 1, 2026, the minimum wage rate increased in 19 states, as well as 47 different cities and counties. The state-level minimum wage increases are expected to affect earnings for more than 8.3 million workers, according to an estimate from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
HR Brew
January 8, 2026
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.
“[In November] the Black unemployment rate rose to 8.3%, up from 7.5% in September,” she said.
Marketplace
January 8, 2026
For the first time, more Americans will earn a minimum wage of $15 or more than will earn the federal minimum of $7.25, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The federal rate has remained unchanged since 2009, despite broad public support for an increase.
…
The increases, a majority of which took effect Jan. 1, will boost the earnings of about 8.3 million workers by a total of $5 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
New York Times
January 8, 2026