The state law, which allows employees the option to choose whether or not they want to join a union — known as “right-to-work” — has become a flash point in the gubernatorial race.
States with this law have been found to diminish wages and benefits for workers, an Economic Policy Institute analysis found. Twenty-seven states have passed such laws.
Technical.ly
September 22, 2025
Ben Zipperer is a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC.
According to his research, “If the administration follows through on its goals of deporting 4 million people over four years, there will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers at the end of that period.
“Employment in the construction sector will drop sharply: U.S.-born construction employment will fall by 861,000, and immigrant employment will fall by 1.4 million. The deportations will eliminate half a million child care jobs.”
Counterpunch
September 22, 2025
“Virtually the only way to draw more workers into the profession is to improve these jobs,” wrote Heidi Shierholz and Samantha Sanders in a comment submitted by the Economic Policy Institute. “Stripping away protections that boost pay will make recruitment harder, not easier, and will worsen the problem of insufficient access to home care services.”
AARP
September 22, 2025
A new report issued Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute is calling out the U.S. H-2B visa program, for swelling from the original mandated 66,000-limit without a solution. While a bipartisan effort has risen in recent years urging the Secretary of Homeland Security to raise the annual cap, the report’s authors contend that the H-2B program is undercutting U.S. wage standards already, and if the program is extended year-round, it will only lower wages and revenue, especially for those working in the meat processing sector.
National Hog Farmer
September 22, 2025
Announcing these latest wage increases is also kind of a PR move, said Ben Zipperer, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“They are pretty much signaling the kind of wage increases that we’re seeing most companies in the United States making,” he said.
…
About 67 million people — nearly half of workers in this country — earn less than $25 an hour.
Marketplace
September 22, 2025
Features interview with Hilary Wething.
Today on the show: An economist explains how the cost of school supplies fits into the larger history of public school funding, and what one school district is doing differently.
NPR Planet Money
September 22, 2025
However, corporate pay in the US has generally rallied in recent decades compared to that of workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, average pay for CEOs at S&P 500 companies – the 500 biggest listed firms in the US – rose by almost 1,000 percent over the 50-year period leading up to 2024.
Al Jazeera
September 22, 2025
According to a 2024 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, low wages and the COVID-19 pandemic could help explain the lack of drivers.
There were about 12% fewer drivers in 2024 than there were in 2019, according to EPI.
St. Louis Public Radio
September 22, 2025
More than 40% of families in the U.S. can’t access affordable child care, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, which also shows that child care for just one infant costs more than rent in 17 states.
NBC News
September 22, 2025
Federal standards on child labor are “limited and increasingly outdated,” according to the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, which is calling on states to strengthen laws that protect young workers.
Those conclusions are part of the nonprofit think tank’s recently published report on how states can expand protections to keep young people safe on the job.
Safety and Health Magazine
September 22, 2025