As of November 2025, there were 9.5% fewer school bus drivers in the U.S. than in September 2019, according to Economic Policy Institute.
One of the key issues perpetuating bus driver shortages is low pay, with the median school bus driver earning 43% less than the median weekly wage for all workers and weekly earnings for bus drivers declining 2.8% since 2019, says the Economic Policy Institute.
Shreveport Times
August 10, 2026
We all know D.C. is an expensive place to live. But a new report by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute highlights the disproportionate racial impact of this ongoing economic crisis, finding that three out of five Black residents can’t afford to live here. The analysis reveals that more than 60% of Black households in the city make less than what the Economic Policy Institute considers an “adequate” standard of living for the District. What kind of salary would be adequate? Based on these calculations, a family with one adult and one child would need to earn $125,468 to cover housing, childcare and other essentials.
City Cast DC
August 10, 2026
Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said the number of job openings softened slightly in June but has generally been rising over the year.
Gould said in a social media breakdown of the JOLTS report that the hires rate ticked up slightly in June but “remains on par with much weaker labor market conditions.”
It’s difficult for unemployed workers to break into the labor market, she said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
August 10, 2026
According to a new report published by the Economic Policy Institute, Black Americans say they are in the worst financial position in a decade. The think tank cites an analysis of a Federal Reserve Board of Governors survey that tracks Americans’ economic sentiment. The latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking shows an increase in the number of Black adults who worry about finding or keeping a job, and a decrease in those who say they are doing okay or living comfortably.
“The latest SHED survey also shows that the harm caused by the administration’s economic chaos has not affected all people equally,” says the report authored by Ismael Cid-Martinez, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE).
Thegrio.com
August 10, 2026
As critics at the time predicted, the U.S. trade deficit exploded, reaching a high of $960 billion in 2022. This deficit contributed to the shuttering of 70,000 American factories from the mid-1990s to 2023 and the loss of at least five million manufacturing jobs between China’s admission to the WTO in 2001 and 2020, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Foreign Affairs
August 10, 2026
According to a study published in November by the Economic Policy Institute, the number of school bus drivers still lags behind pre-pandemic numbers. As of August 2025, there were about 202,000 people employed as school bus drivers nationwide. That figure represents a decrease of 21,200 people, or 9.5% compared to August 2019.
Tulsa World
August 10, 2026
Employers steal about $15 billion from workers every year through minimum wage violations alone, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Toledo Blade
August 10, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, staffing levels are 9.5% to 10% below pre-pandemic baselines.
WDHN-TV (Alabama)
August 10, 2026
More than 25 million students ride the bus each school year, according to the American School Bus Council, but the Economic Policy Institute reports there are still 21,000 fewer drivers on the road than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
WTVY-TV (Alabama)
August 10, 2026
The article also states Alaska had the third-highest loss of federal jobs among states by percentage, using month-to-month tracking. While other reports citing higher total federal job losses do not provide figures by state, the Economic Policy Institute notes Alaska as of March 2025 ranked sixth among states in federal employees as a percentage of the total workforce.
Juneau Independent
August 10, 2026