Economic Policy Institute modeling shows 616,700 Ohio workers would get a raise due to a state minimum wage increase of $15 an hour by 2030, according to a report by Policy Matters Ohio published earlier this year.
Ohio Capital Journal
July 28, 2026
The problems with the program are inherent in this explanation. Children from low-income, economically vulnerable backgrounds stand to benefit much less than those who are wealthy enough to supplement the accounts with their own savings. Trump Accounts therefore may broaden systemic inequalities. “Overall, it seems like the instrument of the Trump account seems like a really good vehicle for people and families that are already well-positioned to save but will do very little to change the material reality of those families that are economically vulnerable,” says Ismael Cid-Martinez, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “In fact, because of the structure, it doesn’t really target these families that are in need, and it doesn’t reach them.”
When you factor in that OBBBA also contained billions of dollars in cuts to funding programs including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Trump Accounts barely even look like a nice gesture. What’s more, the fact that wealthy people like the Dells are contributing to the program reflects a troublesome indicator that impoverished Americans may have to increasingly rely on assistance from the private sector.
“It leaves your basic guarantees in the hands of the charitable contributions of individual actors, which is not how we have structured programs like Social Security programs, like Medicaid,” says Martinez. “Our social safety net system is not based on whether or not you’re moved by my predicament to contribute to my well-being.”
American Prospect
July 28, 2026
The reason for fewer field trips may have to do with overall transportation trips, but there’s also an issue with drivers. As of 2024, the country was short of school bus drivers by about 12% compared with 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The study also found that the median driver is earning 43% less than the median weekly wage for all workers. So, it’s a job with heavy responsibility, split hours, and pay that has slipped. You might be thinking that sounds like a job that people quit.
Stacker
July 28, 2026
And what we know from the data from economic policy institute economist valerie wilson is that about 61% of the public sector jobs that were lost by black women were mainly concentrated in the federal government. Wow. Okay. That’s intense. So the big question is, what do we do about this?
NBC News Daily
July 28, 2026
Gig work might offer flexibility, but many workers pay for it through low wages, limited benefits, and financial insecurity. An Economic Policy Institute analysis found that 29% of those in the industry earned less than their state’s minimum wage, while 14% made less than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. Almost one in five said they had gone hungry because they could not afford enough food, and 31% had been unable to pay their utility bills in full during the previous month.
TechSpot
July 28, 2026
The lack of demographic data will hinder accountability for employers, said labor economist Valerie Rawlston Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.
“(The proposal) is consistent with the general anti-equity push of this administration to eliminate pretty much all of the infrastructure that have been in place for equal employment in this country,” Wilson said. “We have laws in place that prohibit discrimination, but the effectiveness of those laws is really dependent on our ability to enforce those laws. And the enforcement of those laws is facilitated by having consistent reliable data.”
States Newsroom
July 28, 2026
The issue might not be how much is spent but where it’s spent.
“There are some districts that are spending more than enough, and there are some districts that aren’t spending nearly enough,” Hilary Wething, an economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, told Straight Arrow. “High-poverty districts are under-spending relative to the needs of those students.”
Wething said all schools could benefit from an overall increase in spending, but focusing funding on high-poverty districts has shown real benefits.
Straight Arrow News
July 28, 2026
The second change was to slow or stop wage increases for H-2A workers that had soared during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration. After months of industry pressure, the Trump administration last year reduced the hourly pay rate, which it expects will save farmers more than $2 billion a year. Those savings are projected to cost H-2A workers up to 32% of their annual wages, according to the think tank the Economic Policy Institute.
ProPublica
July 28, 2026
Tripling Union membership could help address the nationwide cost of living crisis. This, according to a new report the Economic Policy Institute announced last week Wednesday Labour Radio’s Sean Hacker up has more at a webinar hosted on Wednesday afternoon, Economic Policy Institute Executive Vice President Naomi Walker opposed the question quote what would America look like if we tripled Union membership and at a virtual press conference held earlier that morning, the think Tank announced a new report that offers an answer to that question. In that world? This week’s EPI report finds nearly one in 3 people would be employed in a card carrying Union job the median worker would make over a quarter of a million dollars more during a 35 year career, racial and gender pay gaps would narrow social programs like public education and Medicaid could be expanded, and Democratic institutions would be less likely to be undermined.
WORT Labor Radio (Wisconsin)
July 28, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute reports the average annual cost of infant care in Massachusetts is $26,709.
The Gardner News (Massachusetts)
July 28, 2026