The bill is supported by the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, SEIU, National Nurses United…Economic Policy Institute.
McKnight’s Senior Living
October 1, 2026
Josh Bivens is the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit think-tank that researches working class economic issues. He told KERA in an email that cost of living is not just a price issue — it’s a race between income growth and prices.
“I would also note that the price of pet ownership has risen much faster than overall inflation for years, and, that’s likely a steady pressure here regardless of what is happening to overall cost of living concerns,” he said.
Bivens added that, since 2000, the price index for “pet services, including veterinary care” has risen more than twice as fast as overall inflation.
Over the last two years, the United States has seen an uptick in price inflation due to the Iran War and tariff effects paired with a deceleration in wage growth, hitting lowest-wage workers the hardest, Bivens said.
KERA (Dallas NPR)
October 1, 2026
And what did these laws accelerate? Wisconsin’s union membership collapsed from 17.8% in 2000 to 6.4% today. Mix calls this “freedom to choose,” but skips the wage data: Right-to-work states pay workers 6.7% less on average, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Wisconsin State Journal
September 28, 2026
Studies by the Economic Policy Institute show that the class of 2026 is graduating into a labor market that has “notably weakened” in the past two years.
NOLA.com
September 28, 2026
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said slower wage growth, along with generational pressures like …[paywall].
Minnesota Star Tribune
September 28, 2026
Stat: Even though Tesla CEO Elon Musk didn’t hit the right targets to bring home any money from his $158 billion pay package last year, overall CEO pay in the US still rose 14%. CEOs made 325 times as much as the average annual worker. (Economic Policy Institute)
HR Brew
September 28, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute adds that young workers without college degrees, whose occupations score negative on AI exposure, also saw their unemployment rate rise at a similar pace over the same period. If AI is the culprit in this employment decline, then why are unexposed workers suffering too?
Fortune
September 28, 2026
The financial burden on local taxpayers is also mounting. Citing data from the Economic Policy Institute, the report notes that Rio Grande Valley taxpayers are projected to contribute over $300 million in federal taxes toward funding federal immigration enforcement operations.
Rio Grande Guardian
September 28, 2026
Multiple sources including MIT’s Living Wage Calculator for Virginia, and the nonpartisan nonprofit Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Map have also shown that wages in Virginia are growing slower than the cost of living.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
September 28, 2026
Lassen County is also a comparatively lower-cost area. The Economic Policy Institute’s 2026 Family Budget Calculator places Lassen tenth-lowest among California counties in modeled essential costs for a single adult without children. LCMPA acknowledges that reality. But a lower cost of living does not erase the need for competitive compensation, especially when the county faces persistent vacancies, recruitment barriers, rising workloads, and wage compression.
Lassen County Times (CA)
September 28, 2026