The ongoing child care problem is double-sided. On one hand, without the help of these federal funds, some child care programs cannot afford to pay their teachers enough to keep them working. On the other, many parents and families cannot afford to pay for child care services, which costs nearly 60 percent more per year than in-state tuition for college in North Carolina according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Daily Tar Heel
February 9, 2026
Loss of SNAP benefits could exacerbate the already inadequate food access in many Native communities. Native people experience the highest levels of food insecurity of any demographic in the United States, and 23% benefit from SNAP — nearly double the national average, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Native News Online
February 9, 2026
Nationally, child care costs exceed public college tuition in 38 states, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In Minnesota, it costs $23,000 annually for infants and nearly $18,000 for preschoolers, making it the third most expensive state for child care. I’d have to make twice my current salary to make ends meet, yet most safety net services are unavailable to me.
Minnesota Reformer
February 9, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank, California is home to the largest total number of immigrants who participate in the workforce, as well as the largest number of undocumented immigrants overall. Unauthorized immigrants make up 5.6% of the U.S. labor force and 8% of California’s labor force. These workers “are often subject to workplace abuse and retaliation by their employers that is based on and/or facilitated by those workers’ lack of an authorized immigration status,” the institute says.
Unauthorized immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes and contribute billions more to the country’s economy, the EPI adds. “But unauthorized immigrant workers, who on paper have labor and employment law protections, in practice are often restrained from complaining about unpaid wages and substandard working conditions because of fears – or actual threats – that their employers will retaliate by reporting their immigration status to federal immigration enforcement authorities.”
MarketWatch
February 9, 2026
Mundell’s bout of unemployment makes her part of a trend, said Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity, and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Over the course of the last year, there was clear deterioration in the labor market for Black workers,” she said.
Historically, unemployment for Black workers runs at about double the rate of unemployment for white workers.
Marketplace
February 9, 2026
Another big reason that families consider dropping to one income is the cost of child care. In 38 states and Washington D.C., full-time child care costs more than public college tuition, according to the Economic Policy Institute (4).
MoneyWise
February 9, 2026
Advocates such as the Economic Policy Institute describe Social Security as “by far the most effective antipoverty program in the United States.” Narrowly, this is correct: If Social Security were eliminated, Census Bureau research suggests about 10 million older Americans would fall into poverty. But Social Security won’t be eliminated.
The Hill
February 9, 2026
Local cost equivalents for a $6,773 Super Bowl ticket (national average price) | Average Work Hours (Based on monthly household income per city and the US national average hours worked *) | Average Rent Price in Each City
*US national average of 34.2 hours worked per week, converted to monthly hours. | Local data comes from widely used public sources, including the US Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute, and Numbeo.
Sherwood News
February 9, 2026
One of the key ways to uncover abuses by labor contractors is for regulators to inspect the farms where their workers pick crops. Daniel Costa, an attorney and director of immigration with the think tank the Economic Policy Institute, said federal regulators have become so strapped for resources that they’re only inspecting a tiny fraction of farms each year.
“When less than 1% of farm employers are investigated every year, they can act with impunity, knowing that there is a very low likelihood that they will ever be investigated,” Costa said.
ProPublica
February 9, 2026
National figures show immigrants are heavily represented in construction work, with roughly one in three workers in construction and extraction jobs born outside the United States. That helps explain why enforcement actions and policy uncertainty flow straight into longer rebuilding timelines, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Hoodline
February 9, 2026