A July 2025 report from the Economic Policy Institute by Ben Zipperer finds that, if the Trump administration follows through on its goals of deporting 4 million people over four years, there will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers at the end of that period.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the research is solid, says Zipperer. For example, aggressive deportations can cause a sharp and abrupt enough fall in labor supply that some employers will respond by shutting down operations entirely. This has been clearly seen already in small businesses such as restaurants that serve farming communities in Southern California and the Rio Grande agricultural regions, for example, where fear of ICE crackdowns has kept their customers and employees at home.
Supply Chain Brain
September 29, 2025
Business Chief
September 29, 2025
A growing chorus on both the left and the right say an over-reliance on the visa by U.S. firms has put U.S.-born workers at a disadvantage. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called the H-1B visa program a “scam,” while the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has claimed that some of the companies most reliant on H-1B visas, such as Amazon and Facebook’s parent, Meta, have also had sizable layoffs, though it did not cite evidence that the use of the visa and the layoffs are related.
NBC News
September 29, 2025
H-1B workers generally make on average in Chicago $172,720, according to ZipRecruiter. But the pro-labor union Economic Policy Institute found that outsourced employees in particular are underpaid, undercutting the labor market for American workers.
“Thanks to (the Department of Labor’s) failure to enforce the wage laws or close the outsourcing loophole,” the institute reported, “DOL is in effect subsidizing the offshoring of high-paying U.S. jobs in information technology that once served as a pathway to the middle class, including for workers of color.”
Chicago Tribune
September 29, 2025
The two previous recessions in the U.S. disproportionately affected specific economic and demographic groups. Future recessions could be even worse, according to a new study by economists with the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
Valerie Wilson, Director, Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute
Ismael Cid Martinez, economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy
WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
September 29, 2025
This fall, SPN teams will take on projects with the Atlantic Council, the Pulte Institute for Global Development at Notre Dame, the National League of Cities, Freedom Network USA, the Economic Policy Institute, the Indiana Immigration Project, and the Denver mayor’s office. Additional teams will study education policy, environmental policy, public health, immigration and financial literacy, along with democratic engagement in Chicago.
Notre Dame OBserver
September 29, 2025
35:31 – Economic Policy Institute counterargument about jobs lost due to mass deportations
David Lin Report (YouTube)
September 29, 2025
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the typical worker in the residential long-term care industry earns $15.22 per hour; the typical worker across all sectors earns $20.07. Access to benefits, such as health insurance or employer-sponsored retirement plans, is also less common among working caregivers.
Investopedia
September 29, 2025
A study from the Economic Policy Institute showed that 60 percent of H-1B workers made below the local median wages for their industries. The study also found that Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, Google, Apple, and IBM were among the top employers of H-1B workers.
Daily Caller
September 29, 2025
Some solutions would require congressional action. Lawmakers have proposed fixes like requiring employers to look harder for domestic applicants before recruiting outside the country, or banning layoffs of workers who are replaced by visa holders. They have also considered more targeted measures to crack down on wage suppression by outsourcing companies.
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The White House said the fee would ensure that employers only submit petitions for workers they need so much that they’re willing to pay an extra $100,000 to get them. But the employers that profit the most from H-1B workers — including workers who are relatively low-paid — would still have an incentive to request visas.
“If they keep the H-1B worker for six years, it’s a worthwhile investment,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the labor-aligned Economic Policy Institute.
New York Times
September 29, 2025