“The bulk of these revisions reflect 2024 data — in fact, despite the predictable angst they will generate from the White House, today’s revisions tell us very little about the state of Trump’s economy,” economists Elise Gould and Ben Zipperer of the Economic Policy Institute, an employment-focused think tank in Washington, said.
The Hill
September 12, 2025
There are lots of ways to measure the difference between what men and women earn, according to Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
You can compare hourly wages or annual salaries, control for factors like education and zip code or not, “and they’re all correct. They may be telling a slightly different story,” she said.
But Gould said the data consistently show a wide and stubborn gap, including the Census Bureau’s comparison of total earnings by year-round, full-time workers.
“As of 2024, full-time women are paid only 80.9% of what full-time men are paid,” Gould said.
Marketplace
September 12, 2025
That’s a $1,040 increase from 2023′s median, but the Census Bureau doesn’t consider the 1.3% change “statistically different.” The median income rose by roughly 4% between 2022 and 2023, which was the first statistically significant increase since 2019.
But just because the data isn’t statistically significant “doesn’t mean that it’s not economically meaningful for many households that their incomes rose,” Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, tells CNBC Make It.
Though the prior period saw a larger increase with faster economic growth and inflation falling quicker, “you’re still beating out inflation … I think it’s still definitely a positive report,” she says.
CNBC
September 12, 2025
Indeed, the Economic Policy Institute has published extensively on how low quit rates are evidence of an imbalance called “monopsony power.”
Workers feel stuck because the cost of leaving is too high, and it means employers can underpay them. According to the institute’s research, a 10 percent pay cut causes only about 20 to 30 percent of workers to quit.
The Hill
September 12, 2025
However, revisions even of this size “are not corrections of mistakes,” the Economic Policy Institute said in a note published on Tuesday. “Revisions are part of the regular, transparent process to update employment counts with the most comprehensive data possible,” it added.
Newsweek
September 11, 2025
According to the Economic Policy Institute, across the United States an estimated 2.2 million people work in domestic jobs. About 240,000 are nannies, but the majority become home health aides. Nearly a quarter of domestic workers report working seven days a week without a break.
Documented NY
September 11, 2025
“While median earnings and incomes held strong in 2024, it’s important to remember that these data do not say anything about 2025,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Trump policies—chaotic and high tariffs, mass deportations, attacks on the federal workforce—have already led to a softening labor market and more inflationary pressures.”
Spotlight on Poverty
September 11, 2025
Manufacturing Dive
September 11, 2025
Investopedia
September 11, 2025
“We’re not seeing any evidence yet of improved conditions for [domestic] workers,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Some employers, especially in certain industries, have been ready to make a push for more H-2A and H-2B visas… They see that the only way they are going to replace that workforce is with these programs.”
Investigate Midwest
September 11, 2025