Investors are growing concerned that the US economy may be at risk after job market data continued to show weakness. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 7.23 million job openings in August, a level approaching the lowest in five years. “Federal unemployment insurance claims are about twice as high as they were last year,” economists at the Economic Policy Institute noted Tuesday.
Trading View
October 6, 2025
Teachers’ wages in the United States have fallen further behind those of other college graduates over the last 30 years, resulting in a record-high pay gap in 2024, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
The report found that the gap between the salaries of public school teachers and other college graduates grew to nearly 27% in 2024. In 1996, the gap was 6%. On average, teachers in 2024 earned 73 cents for every dollar earned by people in similar professions, according to the report.
EdSource
October 6, 2025
“All else equal, lower churn can make it harder for new entrants to break into the labor market and can be a drag on average wage growth since finding a new job is often the best way to see better pay,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote Tuesday.
CNN Business
October 6, 2025
Economists with the Economic Policy Institute similarly noted Tuesday that while recent data revisions have suggested the labor market was weaker than expected last year, much of the slower job growth was “the result of smaller working-age population growth due to reduced immigration and the aging of the workforce,” rather than there being fewer opportunities available.
This year, though, there are some warning signs that the market is deteriorating.
“There has been a marked decline in payroll employment growth — averaging only 29,000 jobs per month since May,” the economists said. “Nominal wages are still rising faster than inflation, but the pace of private-sector real wage growth is half as fast as it was three months ago.”
Yahoo Finance
October 6, 2025
Analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that in 2024, CEO compensation surged by almost 6% compared to 2023, with median pay ratios reaching 281:1 compared to the average worker. The data also showed that when compared to the top 0.1% of workers in 2023, CEOs were making 7.5 times their compensation.
“This suggests that CEOs are not paid extraordinary amounts because of any special skills or greater productivity, but because they have extraordinary leverage over corporate boards that set their pay. If CEOs were paid less, there would be no loss of productivity or output in the economy,” the EPI explained in its report.
HR Digest
October 6, 2025
A report by the pro-labour Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in 2020, meanwhile, found that 60 per cent of all H-1B jobs paid below the median wage for workers in that occupation in a particular region.
Telegraph UK
October 6, 2025
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute reveals a surprising rebound in U.S. prime-age labor force participation — the share of people aged 25 to 54 who are working or actively seeking work — after decades of ups and downs.
All Work
October 6, 2025
Arizona had nearly 64,000 federal employees as of March – before some of the Trump administration’s cuts kicked in – according to figures from the Economic Policy Institute. About one in four are veterans.
Cronkite News
October 6, 2025
As Louisiana Public Radio reports, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the pay penalty stood at a record level of 26.9% in 2024. By comparison, Louisiana’s teacher pay penalty stands at 28.2%. In our four-state region other state levels include:
Louisiana Public Radio
October 6, 2025
The number of bus drivers decreased by 15% between September 2019 and September 2023, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Private school bus contractors now account for 38% of the nation’s pupil transportation services, according to the National School Transportation Association.
Stateline
October 6, 2025