A nationwide mandate could generate an estimated $7 trillion in additional retirement savings and create 62 million new savers over a decade, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Financial Advisor
December 19, 2025
“It really boils down to sort of a perfect storm of factors,” says Valerie Wilson, the director of the program on race, ethnicity, and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute. “We have the federal layoffs and job losses. We have the retraction of DEI policies . . . and organizations, including the federal government, that have essentially eliminated DEI departments or roles that were likely held by a large number of Black women.” Wilson also notes that job losses across industries have disproportionately impacted women—from manufacturing to professional and business services.
…
“The reason why we have a more diverse federal workforce is because at one point, the federal government was actually willing to sort of be a leader in establishing more equitable employment practices that were ultimately adopted in states and cities and, to some extent, the private sector,” Wilson says.
Fast Company
December 19, 2025
The cost of necessities is calculated using data from the Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator, with inflation adjusted to 2025 dollars in the study. The figures show the income a family needs for a modest yet adequate standard of living, breaking out costs for housing, food, health care, taxes and more.
“Many families don’t have the discretionary spending. They want to save for college for their kids and just simply don’t have anything extra,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist from the Economic Policy Institute, pointing out that the budget rule is now unrealistic for many families. “They can have trouble making ends meet, let alone being able to invest in the future.”
Albany Times Union
December 19, 2025
MIT’s Living Wage Calculator and the Economic Policy Institute both show that a genuinely comfortable lifestyle for a family of four can easily top $100,000 in many states. And a recent Harris Poll found that 64% of Americans earning six figures say their income merely keeps them afloat. The virality of Green’s post itself suggests that traditional economic indicators don’t fully reflect how financially strained many American families feel.
Quartz
December 19, 2025
The school bus driver shortage is just a fact of life, Richardson said; it’s been a consistent problem for most of her career. Data from the Economic Policy Institute show that school bus driver employment has decreased over the past 15 years, prompted by federal budget cuts in the early 2010s that forced schools to cut bus services or privatize its school buses.
Rocky Mountain PBS
December 19, 2025
Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., says the welcome reduction in inflation since the pandemic has finally flatlined, but it may yet show some uptick next year. Wage growth from 2019 to 2024, particularly for lower-wage workers, “stopped pretty dead in 2025 and seems unlikely to reverse in 2026.”
…
A slowdown in wage growth will create silent pain in 2026. “Consumers might chalk up their struggles to high prices or cost-of-living because they often don’t even think they – or policymakers – have any real control over their wage growth, but wages are the blade of the scissors that does most of the cutting in terms of determining affordability,” he adds.
MarketWatch
December 19, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis shows that if the Trump administration achieves its stated goal of deporting one million people per year over the next four years, “the direct care industry would lose close to 400,000 jobs—affecting 274,000 immigrant and 120,000 US-born workers.”
Common Dreams
December 19, 2025
🔭 A view from the left:
Affordability also reflects decades of wage stagnation.
Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute argues that federal policies — from a frozen minimum wage to weakened unions and consolidation — have held down pay. EPI estimates typical workers would earn about 40 percent more today had wages kept pace with productivity.
The Boston Globe
December 19, 2025
The big picture: For the first time, more workers in 2026 will live in states with a minimum wage of $15 an hour or higher than those still tied to the federal $7.25 floor, according to the progressive Economic Policy Institute.
Axios Denver
December 18, 2025
Minnesota stands out for its strong safety net, low unemployment, and consistent investment in education. Research from the Economic Policy Institute shows the state ranks high in worker protections and union density. These factors contribute to more evenly distributed prosperity across communities.
Bolde
December 18, 2025