Meanwhile, most people within the bottom 80% of the income distribution rely on wages for wealth accumulation. Wages don’t grow nearly as quickly as assets. For instance, the S&P 500 has doubled over the past five years. On the other hand, wage growth increased by 15.3% for the lowest earners over the past five years, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis.
Benzinga (via Yahoo! Finance)
September 25, 2025
Samuel Gregg makes a fine case for why “H-1B Visas Are Good for U.S. Workers” (op-ed, Sept. 22). But there is an even more fundamental problem with President Trump’s proposed $100,000 fee: The policy is based on bad research. Mr. Trump’s order evidently cites an Economic Policy Institute study claiming employers systematically underpay H-1B workers. But to arrive at that conclusion, the authors ignore that H-1B workers are, on average, much younger and earlier in their careers than their U.S. counterparts. Adjusted for age and experience, they are paid significantly more than similar native-born workers.
Wall Street Journal
September 25, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute identifies 100 specific actions by the Trump administration (in the first 100 days) that “threaten to slow wage growth while also raising prices, constraining workers’ purchasing power.” Their report concludes that from, “attacks on workers’ rights to his chaotic implementation of historically high tariffs, and his dismantling of critical federal agencies and programs…Trump’s actions have left workers with fewer rights and have put the U.S. economy on a path toward an almost certain recession” (“100 ways Trump has hurt workers in his first 100 days, April 25, 2025).
Duluth Reader
September 25, 2025
Meanwhile, most people within the bottom 80% of the income distribution rely on wages for wealth accumulation. Wages don’t grow nearly as quickly as assets. For instance, the S&P 500 has doubled over the past five years. On the other hand, wage growth increased by 15.3% for the lowest earners over the past five years, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis.
Benzinga (via Yahoo! Finance)
September 25, 2025
Samuel Gregg makes a fine case for why “H-1B Visas Are Good for U.S. Workers” (op-ed, Sept. 22). But there is an even more fundamental problem with President Trump’s proposed $100,000 fee: The policy is based on bad research. Mr. Trump’s order evidently cites an Economic Policy Institute study claiming employers systematically underpay H-1B workers. But to arrive at that conclusion, the authors ignore that H-1B workers are, on average, much younger and earlier in their careers than their U.S. counterparts. Adjusted for age and experience, they are paid significantly more than similar native-born workers.
Wall Street Journal
September 25, 2025
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, average hourly wages in industries employing H-2B visa workers were as much as 22% lower than national average hourly wages. The H-2B program is used for nonagricultural temporary workers, primarily in landscaping, construction and hospitality industries.
The Center Square
September 25, 2025
The White House has defended the new H-1B visa application fee, stating it is intended to level the playing field for U.S. workers, who it said are being “replaced with lower-paid foreign labor.” These claims that H-1B workers are underpaid, and that their hiring leads to the underemployment of U.S. workers, were supported by a 2021 report from the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI) think tank.
“[T]he abuses of the program have been many,” EPI’s report found, “include[ing] vastly underpaying workers, laying off U.S. workers and replacing them with much lower-paid H-1B workers, forcing U.S. workers to train their H-1B replacements as a condition of receiving severance and unemployment insurance, and cheating the H-1B lottery to acquire additional visas.”
New York Amsterdam News
September 25, 2025
Farm labor contractors are the fastest-growing segment of farm employment, and they account for one-fourth of all federal wage and hour violations in the agricultural sector, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Prism Reports
September 25, 2025
A study by Investopedia calculated the price tag from eight categories considered quintessential to the classic American dream, including buying new cars, homeownership, marriage, kids and retirement. The financial journalism organization used data from several sources, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic Policy Institute and industry research organizations.
The Oklahoman
September 25, 2025
Economic Policy Institute in Washington. Costa said that while the current law requires H-1B workers be paid the “prevailing wage,” it also allows four …[paywall].
Boston Globe
September 25, 2025