Trump also fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August, the agency responsible for economic statistics, which was already weakened after years of tight budgets and staff shortages. That’s on top of a budget that “will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, and shutter rural hospitals,” says Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz — all in the name of handouts in the form of tax cuts for the superrich, increasing the national debt by trillions over the next decade while eliminating nearly 6 million jobs by trying to enact the mass deportation of one million people.
In These Times
August 13, 2025
As of September 2024, there were 12.2% fewer school bus drivers in the U.S. than in September 2019, according to Economic Policy Institute.
Shreveport Times
August 13, 2025
Valerie Wilson, a labor economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, said the modest rise in long-term joblessness could reflect employers getting pickier about hiring as President Donald Trump’s tariff regime changes the cost of doing business.
“People who have been unemployed for longer have clearly had some challenges in getting back into the labor market,” Wilson told HuffPost. “I think that as things have softened, and employers are facing more uncertainty given the sort of chaotic nature of economic policy in this country, that it would be harder for those people to find new jobs.”
Huffpost
August 13, 2025
The 2025 data shows virtually every metric has worsened, often with double-digit increases. This comes despite the fact that teachers earn just 73 cents for every dollar made by similarly educated professionals, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Teachers nationwide now expect to spend 12% more on classroom supplies compared to last year. The financial burden isn’t just growing; it’s accelerating at a pace that far outstrips both inflation and wage growth.
Courier Texas
August 13, 2025
“Employers are holding steady with the workers they have, and workers are also holding steady in their roles. That can make it harder for new labor market entrants to come in,” Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said, adding that “it could be tougher for men who are looking for jobs where there’s just not a whole lot of hiring right now.”
Business Insider
August 13, 2025
The president of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Heidi Shierholz, said that Trump’s actions were “a move straight out of an autocratic playbook.”
“To fire her over an official data release — simply because the numbers do not serve a particular political narrative — is a deeply dangerous attack on the foundations of a functioning democracy,” she said in a statement.
Truthout
August 13, 2025
“Removing millions of workers overnight isn’t just bad immigration policy, it’s economic suicide,” said Daniel Costa, Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute.
South Florida Media
August 13, 2025
“The best way that workers are able to get wage increases is to switch jobs, and you’re not seeing that as much,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
The Wall Street Journal
August 13, 2025
“More data and more timely data is better than less data and less-timely data,” Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, told Daily Beast.
Daily Beast
August 13, 2025
Economists say Black Americans are among the ethnic groups affected first during an economic downturn. Among the U.S. states that have the highest Black unemployment rate are Washington, D.C. (10.3 percent), Michigan (10 percent), Nevada (8 percent) and California (7.7 percent), according to the Economic Policy Institute. In Illinois, the unemployment rate among Blacks was 7.7 percent.
Chicago Crusader
August 13, 2025