The overall economy is still strong, and the unemployment rate remains low. But workers do not have the leverage they enjoyed during the pandemic recovery, when they were switching jobs at a higher rate and squeezing more raises out of employers. The job market has turned into a “low-hire, low-fire” environment, where workers aren’t getting laid off in great numbers, but employers aren’t having to boost pay to retain them, either.
“I think that has a cost to wage growth,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “And the other side of that, obviously, is inflation.”
Graph showing real wages were generally on an upward trajectory until earlier this year. Source: Economic Policy Institute
Huffpost
September 21, 2026
Managers have been pulling workers into meetings for antiunion propaganda and closely surveilling them to assess union support and chill the organizing. “They’ve had more corporate executive union-busters in the store than workers,” said DiGiuseppe.
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that U.S. employers spend $1.7 billion annually on union-busting consultants and law firms.
Labor Notes
September 21, 2026
Since the start of the Iran war, the inflation rate has risen. In January, the rate was 2.4 percent; following the start of the war, the rate spiked to a high of 4.2 percent in May. Since then, the inflation rate has settled in at about 3.4 percent.
However, according to the Economic Policy Institute, wage growth has been about 3.1 percent. This means that, in real dollars, people are earning less and are having their buying power eroded.
International Business Times
September 17, 2026
The NEA report lists the minimum living wage for the state at $63,029 according to the Economic Policy Institute.
WSBT
September 17, 2026
The report cites projections from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) last year on what this could mean if the Trump administration meets its target of deporting 1 million people per year.
Using data from previous immigration enforcement studies, the EPI estimated that nearly 6 million fewer people could be employed by the end of President Donald Trump’s second term if the administration follows through on its deportation promises. That includes 3.3 million immigrants, but also 2.6 million US-born workers, many of whom are working in immigrant-heavy sectors.
Common Dreams
September 17, 2026
The NEA report lists the minimum living wage for the state at $63,029 according to the Economic Policy Institute.
WSBT
September 17, 2026
The report cites projections from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) last year on what this could mean if the Trump administration meets its target of deporting 1 million people per year.
Using data from previous immigration enforcement studies, the EPI estimated that nearly 6 million fewer people could be employed by the end of President Donald Trump’s second term if the administration follows through on its deportation promises. That includes 3.3 million immigrants, but also 2.6 million US-born workers, many of whom are working in immigrant-heavy sectors.
Common Dreams
September 17, 2026
The NEA report lists the minimum living wage for the state at $63,029 according to the Economic Policy Institute.
WSBT
September 17, 2026
The report cites projections from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) last year on what this could mean if the Trump administration meets its target of deporting 1 million people per year.
Using data from previous immigration enforcement studies, the EPI estimated that nearly 6 million fewer people could be employed by the end of President Donald Trump’s second term if the administration follows through on its deportation promises. That includes 3.3 million immigrants, but also 2.6 million US-born workers, many of whom are working in immigrant-heavy sectors.
Common Dreams
September 17, 2026
Much of this, Mitchell said, is the consequence of federal decisions that have hit D.C. residents hard. That includes deep cuts to the federal workforce, an industry that employed over 13% of District residents as of March 2025, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The 2026 Hunger Report found that the D.C. metro area — which included Arlington and Alexandria — lost 104,000 jobs between January 2025 and January 2026, far more than any other major metropolitan area in the country.
51st News
September 16, 2026