This commonly includes jobs in the hospitality industry, such as bartenders and servers, although the tipping system itself is rooted in a racist history that was adopted as a way for U.S. employers to pay formerly enslaved workers less. Today, it leaves workers of all races and ethnicities more vulnerable to wage theft and exploitation, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Orlando Weekly
June 1, 2026
Analysis from the Economic Innovation Group finds unemployment among recent college graduates has risen faster than the overall rate, and the Economic Policy Institute argues the key problem is a depressed hires rate, meaning employers are bringing on fewer people in entry roles. That combination leaves more applicants chasing fewer openings, especially in white-collar fields where AI tools and hiring freezes have thinned the junior talent pipeline.
Hoodline
June 1, 2026
U.S. employers collectively spend an estimated $1.7 billion each year to prevent their workers from unionizing, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute and nonprofit watchdog group LaborLab.
The $1.7 billion figure includes spending on law firms such as Littler Mendelson that specialize in so-called “union avoidance” services, as well as an estimated $442 million on professional anti-union consultants who are contracted by employers to directly persuade workers against unionization, often at rates of $400-plus an hour or upward of $3,000 per day.
Orlando Weekly
June 1, 2026
In the first seven years after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, 46,210 New Yorkers lost factory jobs, according to a report from the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute.
Albany Times Union
June 1, 2026
Her comments arrive as labor market data reveal concerning trends for Black women in particular. Research from the Economic Policy Institute found Black women’s unemployment rate rose from 5.8% in 2024 to 6.7% in 2025 while labor force participation declined.
Forbes
June 1, 2026
In recent years, Congress and the courts have narrowed the definition of “protected concerted activity” under the NLRA. Union membership is dropping. Nevertheless, strike actions in the U.S. increased by almost 50 percent in 2022, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Truthout
June 1, 2026
Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows this trajectory in longer relief: CEOs of major U.S. companies earned 21 times as much as the typical worker in 1965. This ratio grew to 31 to 1 in 1978 and 61 to 1 by 1989, according to the Economic Policy Institute. From 1978 to 2023, top CEO compensation rose 1,085%, compared with a 24% increase in a typical worker’s compensation. By 2023, CEOs were paid 290 times as much as a typical worker.
Quartz
June 1, 2026
With a return to research reading, one of the latest issues to catch my attention is an April 27 report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The report details the real source of continuing affordability problems, and explains it’s not just prices rising — because prices have always been rising some.
The institute states the real root of affordability is continuing rising inequality — deliberately caused by big money investors and corporate managers.
The Union (California)
June 1, 2026
Employers in Colorado and across the U.S. spend $1.7 billion each year to keep workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute and LaborLab.
The report showed high-paid consultants and law firms have built substantial businesses over the past several decades specializing in union avoidance services. Their clients have included Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s.
Margaret Poydock, senior policy analyst for the institute and co-author of the report, said the $1.7 billion figure is likely an underestimate.
Public News Service
June 1, 2026
Oklahoma is on par with the federal minimum wage, but well below the average state minimum wage of $11.51, according to Ballotpedia. An analysis from the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute found that enhancing the state’s minimum wage would increase wages for 357,700 Oklahoma workers — or roughly one-fifth of the state’s wage-earning workforce — by more than $783 million overall. This total includes workers who would benefit directly and indirectly from the policy. On average, affected full-time and year-round workers would gain $2,322 in annual pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
June 1, 2026