“While median earnings and incomes held strong in 2024, it’s important to remember that these data do not say anything about 2025,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Trump policies—chaotic and high tariffs, mass deportations, attacks on the federal workforce—have already led to a softening labor market and more inflationary pressures.”
Spotlight on Poverty
September 11, 2025
Manufacturing Dive
September 11, 2025
Investopedia
September 11, 2025
“We’re not seeing any evidence yet of improved conditions for [domestic] workers,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Some employers, especially in certain industries, have been ready to make a push for more H-2A and H-2B visas… They see that the only way they are going to replace that workforce is with these programs.”
Investigate Midwest
September 11, 2025
“The latest economic data—which are wholly unaffected by today’s preliminary revisions—suggest the labor market is weakening for all workers,” Elise Gould and Ben Zipperer, senior economists at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote via the nonprofit. “Job growth has been especially weak since May. Household survey rates also point to falling prime-age Black employment and higher unemployment for US-born workers.”
HR Brew
September 11, 2025
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, explains that the BLS asks employers how many people are on their payroll, then estimates what that means for job growth/losses in that month. Each year, the BLS benchmarks those payroll numbers against the “universe” of unemployment insurance tax records. This week, they released their preliminary estimate, and in February, they’ll come out with their final benchmark estimate.
The revision suggests that the economy at the end of President Biden’s term was not as rosy as initially thought. “Growth was about half as fast as when initially reported, and yes, most of the data covers 2024,” Gould says.
KCRW
September 11, 2025
“We know this is the case because it’s happened back in 2008 post-recovery, but we also know that it happened right around the very beginning of COVID-19 where I think Black women’s unemployment shot up to 17% or around that, according to the Economic Policy Institute,” said Opoku-Agyeman. “So we really need to be paying attention to Black women in particular.”
Marketplace
September 11, 2025
“These numbers are likely to anger President Trump and the White House, who incorrectly view revised data as political manipulation,” wrote Elise Gould and Ben Zipperer, economists at the Economic Policy Institute, in a post on the report.
The Mirror US (via MSN)
September 10, 2025
“These numbers are likely to anger President Trump and the White House,” wrote economists Elise Gould and Ben Zipperer at the Economic Policy Institute. They noted the revisions are “part of the regular, transparent process to update employment counts with the most comprehensive data possible” and are based on additional survey data from companies.
“Punishing the messenger will only further damage the federal data infrastructure and cloud our ability to understand the state of the economy,” they wrote.
Courthouse News Service
September 10, 2025