Media clips
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US Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and 19 of their Democratic colleagues wrote a letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, urging him to withdraw a recently proposed rule that they say would allow employers to misclassify employees as independent contractors.
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The senators’ letter cited research from the Economic Policy Institute showing that a typical truck driver could lose up to $23,300 annually in income and benefits as a result of being misclassified as an independent contractor.
“A misclassified construction worker could lose more than $20,000 a year and a misclassified home health aide could lose more than $10,000 a year,” they added.
Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) May 18, 2026 -
The program bypasses the typical requirements of employment-based green cards by treating the financial contribution as a substitute for merit criteria. In practice, the Economic Policy Institute notes, this means routing Gold Card applicants through existing EB-1 and EB-2 visa categories, slots that Congress specifically set aside for people with “extraordinary” ability whose entry will “substantially benefit” the country (4).
MoneyWise May 18, 2026 -
Bouncing around from daycare to summer camps to relatives’ houses can easily add up. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of full-time child care in Oklahoma ranges from $10,790 to $12,468, depending on the children’s ages.
The Oklahoman May 18, 2026 -
When it comes to affordability, common efforts go to driving down prices alone, according to Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economy Policy Institute. But “affordability is the outcome of the race between incomes and prices. You want to make sure incomes are always ahead in that race and growing faster over time,” Bivens explained.
But over the past 30 or 40 years, wages for the majority of Americans have lagged behind what the economy could’ve paid out, said Bivens, explaining that labor markets under capitalism are tilted toward employers. Policy must rebalance that. To start, Bivens said minimum wage has to rise consistently. The federal minimum wage is now effectively a joke, Bivens said, and though some states and cities have moved theirs ahead, it’s uneven.
Next is ensuring unemployment remains low for long periods of time. While this might sound like stating the obvious, the benefits stretch beyond just making an income: Low unemployment rates increase worker negotiating power and maintain their value. Threatening to quit is one way workers have leverage, Bivens explained, but that disappears if the labor market isn’t really strong. A report from the Economic Policy Institute showed that in low-unemployment labor markets, workers who are historically marginalized or work low-wage jobs have faster wage growth; one example, the report notes, is that during the initial years of the pandemic, employers of low-wage workers had to work harder—and pay more—to retain them. At the same time, the report explained, expanded child tax credits, direct payments, and food assistance happening at that time also strengthened the labor market.
Dame Magazine May 18, 2026 -
For the most part, servers rely on our tips. Nina Mast, an economic analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, says there is a lot of privilege involved in tipping. “Tipped workers are more likely to be people of color, women, women of color, or single parents, and are disproportionately born outside of the U.S.,” she wrote in this paper.
Tipped workers experience high rates of poverty and are vulnerable to wage theft and sexual harassment, she added. “The South has the largest tipped workforce of any region. Tipped workers in the South are paid the second lowest median wage of any region, and most Southern states allow employers to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 an hour.”
MarketWatch May 18, 2026 -
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute provides important insights into how CBAs can ensure that Southern manufacturing growth yields long-term shared prosperity for workers and communities.
For example, by securing employer commitments to respect workers’ rights, CBAs can remove obstacles to unionization and help workers win union contracts, which the report shows typically yield significantly improved pay, access to employer-paid health coverage, and paid sick days. The report also documents examples of how CBAs can enable communities to secure enforceable commitments to environmental protection and limits on pollution and energy use, even in contexts where these types of wins are difficult to achieve through policy change.
Inequality.org May 18, 2026 -
Margaret Poydock, senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss EPI’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that 16.5 million workers were represented by a union in 2025, an increase of 463,000 from 2024 and the highest number of unionized workers in 16 years. The growth was broad-based, spanning the private and public sectors, workers of color, young workers and multiple regions of the country, including a surprising surge in the South.
America's Work Force Union Podcast May 18, 2026 -
But if you’re a CEO, on the other end of the stick, it’s a pretty long stick. From 1978 to 2018, executive compensation has skyrocketed. If average worker compensation had kept pace with the explosive growth of CEO pay since 1968, the average worker would earn approximately $432 per hour today, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Sentinel May 18, 2026 -
Whether by coincidence or direct effect, the disappearance of diversity is paralleled by the evaporation of jobs for Black people. Start with the federal government. It has long been an employment refuge from discrimination. In fiscal year 2021, Black women accounted for 12 percent of the federal workforce (compared to 6.6 percent of the civilian labor force). But Trump’s massive contraction of the federal government resulted in Black women accounting for 95,000—35 percent—of the 271,000 job losses, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The American Prospect May 18, 2026 -
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates that the unemployment rate of recent college graduates has largely outpaced that of the overall labor market. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute now suggests more nuance to the numbers.
While unemployment has slowly increased on all fronts since 2022, most of the workforce – those 25 to 54 years old – “has remained” employed, writes Joe Fast and Elise Gould for the Economic Policy Institute.
The report indicates that overall employment hasn’t necessarily declined, but hiring has, which disproportionately impacts those looking for entry-level positions. Hiring rates have steadily fallen over the past three years, which “appears to be hitting young college graduates more acutely.”
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In the last year, young Black college graduates have also faced a higher unemployment rate than other young people entering the workforce, Valerie Wilson writes for the Economic Policy Institute. The analysis indicates that “Black men’s employment is lower than what was reported in the first quarter of 2025,” and while Black women’s employment remained more consistent than their male counterparts, those levels have also dropped since early-2025 estimates. Together, the data indicates a higher difficulty to find work for non-white or non-AAPI college graduates and lower wages for those who do.
U.S. News & World Report May 18, 2026