The Economic Policy Institute noted earlier this year that “tariffs are most effective when they focus on well-defined and narrowly tailored goals, they work best as part of a larger strategy.”
Public Radio Tulsa
September 22, 2025
The program requires employers to pay H-1B workers, at a minimum, either the average wage for the job and the city where it is based, or the average wage of American-born workers doing the same job. Companies are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Still, about 60 percent of the positions paid “well below” the local median wage for the occupation in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which cited the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
New York Times
September 22, 2025
The program requires employers to pay H-1B workers, at a minimum, either the average wage for the job and the city where it is based, or the average wage of U.S.-born workers doing the same job. Companies are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. Still, about 60% of the positions paid “well below” the local median wage for the occupation in 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which cited the Labor Department’s “broad discretion” to set H-1B wage levels.
The Economic Times
September 22, 2025
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) recently published its position after a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) came out on the H-2B visa program.
The think tank stated in its report that the H-2B system has become “deeply flawed,” leading to workforce issues.
Meat Poultry
September 22, 2025
Think tanks like Brookings (widely viewed as centrist to liberal) and the Economic Policy Institute (widely viewed as liberal) argue that without coordinated action, the middle class will continue to erode—making affordability less about choices and more about structural barriers. Still, how to pay for those investments fuels sharp political debates.
Investopedia
September 22, 2025
“I don’t think this is a two-month blip on electricity. We’re in for higher electricity prices for a while, and someone should do something about it,” said Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute. He suggested requiring companies that build data centers to pay for new infrastructure, as well as extending Biden’s climate credits.
Bivens said that policymakers should be worried about signs of a softening labor market. Nearly twice as many workers have gone at least six months without a job now compared to early 2023, a sign of a tough climate for unemployed Americans. In recent years, Bivens said, “for most people, wages and income kept up with inflation … In the post-pandemic period, there were a bunch of shocks going on. A lot of them hurt. But the buttress was an incredibly strong labor market. Now, we’ve let inflation start turning back up, and we don’t have an incredibly strong labor market anymore.”
The Washington Post
September 22, 2025
Conflicting reports over the H-2B visa program are raising questions. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) claims the H-2B visa program has ‘ballooned without being fixed and expanding it to year-round jobs like meatpacking would lower wages and revenue.’
Pork Business
September 22, 2025
The report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that the H-2B program in its current state is undercutting US wages. In the top 15 H-2B jobs, the average hourly wage paid to H-2B workers was lower than the average hourly wage for all workers in that same job.
National Provisioner
September 22, 2025
Similar critiques have long been raised by labor economists and politicians across the political spectrum, including Senators Bernie Sanders (I.-Vt.) and Eric Schmitt (R.-Mo.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D.-Calif.). A 2020 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that most H-1B employers do pay migrant workers less than market rate salaries.
“The program exploits workers,” says Ron Hira, a Howard University political science professor who studies high-skilled immigration and who has testified before Congress calling for an overhaul of the H-1B visa program.
NPR
September 22, 2025
The EPI report claimed the program’s continued issuance of more yearly visas has outpaced reforms to protect workers. It noted that H-2B workers, concentrated in industries like landscaping, hospitality, and meatpacking, are often paid less than national wage standards.
Dallas Express
September 22, 2025