“The way that we’re doing it is creating chaos and uncertainty,” said Adam Hersh, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “This is not good for business. It’s not good for workers either. We’re going to slow economic growth, and we’re not ultimately going to solve the problems that we have.”
Hearst TV
August 29, 2025
The Oklahoman
August 28, 2025
“The experience of workplace violence is being felt most acutely by workers who already are in occupations where their wages have been suppressed,” said Jennifer Sherer, director of the State Worker Power Initiative at the Economic Policy Institute.
The push to address violence on the job appears to be strongest among service and care workers — and especially health care workers. Most of those jobs were not protected by wage and hour laws until the 1960s. In 2021-22, those workers experienced 86% of workplace injuries by another person, according to a Capital & Main analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
“Unionization in those sectors, I think it’s more important than almost any other,” said Sherer.
Capital & Main
August 28, 2025
Sebastian Martinez Hickey, a state economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said there are currently around 650,000 workers in Ohio who earn less than $15 an hour, representing about 13% of Ohio’s total workforce. Hickey said that according to EPI’s Family Budget Calculator, a living wage in Ohio ranges from $18 in Clark County to $24.56 an hour in Delaware County.
“This proposal will be phased in over time and you would expect it to impact fewer workers, because there’s going to be organic wage growth in the intervening years,” Hickey explained. “That being said, a $15 an hour minimum wage in Ohio is pretty modest, especially if you compare it to the cost of living in many areas of the state.”
Hickey said boosting the minimum wage creates significant benefits for low-wage employees without negatively impacting employment. In addition, low-wage workers tend to spend most of their money locally, providing a boost to local economies, Hickey explained.
While Hickey explained raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029 would represent a significant improvement for working Ohioans’ bottom lines, Hickey said it is not the “silver bullet” to resolving the cost-of-living crisis that Ohioans are facing and any increase in the minimum wage needs to come alongside policies to reduce the cost of living.
“You also need smart policy decisions in terms of housing and other major costs families face such as health care and child care,” said Hickey. “You can’t fix it all with the minimum wage, but it’s a really powerful policy. Right now, when you have a low minimum wage, you’re leaving money on the table that you could be helping low wage workers with.”
Athens Messenger (Ohio)
August 28, 2025
According to the Economic Policy Institute, workers covered by a union contract earn 12.8 percent more, on average, than workers in a non-unionized workplace, and in Florida, the vast majority lack union representation. Researchers also say, however, that unions offer the benefit of helping all workers, regardless of whether they’re unionized or not, by setting higher standards that nonunion employers will need to similarly meet in order to attract and retain employees.
Orlando Weekly
August 28, 2025
But critics paint a different picture, with Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz calling it “one of the most destructive economic bills in generations” while saying it “will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, and shutter rural hospitals” to pay for tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
Investopedia
August 28, 2025
Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, commented on the bill’s impact, saying, “Americans understand that they are not getting the tax cuts that were made in the bill. Those are all aimed at the wealthiest people and the largest corporations.”
Hearst TV
August 28, 2025
If she is removed, it would open the path for Trump nominees to hold a majority on the Fed’s board, which the Economic Policy Institute warned against in a statement Tuesday.
“Presidential capture of the Fed would signal to decision-makers throughout the economy that interest rates will no longer be set on the basis of sound data or economic conditions—but instead on the whims of the president,” the group said.
NBC News
August 28, 2025
The Oklahoman
August 28, 2025