With these factors in mind, minimum or low-wage jobs are increasingly unsustainable for most. In 2025, a full-time job at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour puts a worker under the poverty threshold, according to the Economic Policy Institute. While states can opt to have higher minimum wages, 20 states are at or below the federal minimum as of 2025.
Stacker
June 23, 2025
Thirty states have adopted their own minimum wages above the 2009 federal rate, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). These include Hawley’s home state of Missouri, which increased its baseline to $13.75 and plans to raise it to $15.00 starting January 1, 2026.
Ben Zipperer, senior economist with the EPI, a progressive think tank that supports raising the minimum wage, told Newsweek that a Republican’s sponsorship of the bill “is admission that minimum wages are a very popular policy to correct the widespread problem of low pay.” However he expressed skepticism that the party would “abandon their consistent role as the chief obstacle to federal minimum wage increases.”
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Zipperer said that the hike proposed by Hawley and Welch, or the Democratic bill introduced earlier this year which would raise this incrementally to $17 an hour by 2030, would “unambiguously benefit low wage workers and their families and communities.” He cited a 2024 EPI study which found that most research into the topic has found either no resulting job losses or “only small disemployment effects.”
Newsweek
June 23, 2025
“I think (Hawley’s sponsorship) is an admission that minimum wage increases are very popular,” said Ben Zipperer, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank that supports a higher minimum wage.
“I would like to be optimistic about this. I do think it’s an important recognition that the problem with low pay continues to be a concern,” he said.
CNN Business
June 23, 2025
Jennifer Sherer (right), director of the State Worker Power Initiative with the Economic Policy Institute, speaks during the Johnson County manufactured home park press conference June 18.
Corridor Business Journal
June 23, 2025
The U.S. economy is doing better than ever, but does the average American get to benefit from the riches? Turns out, not necessarily. Special thanks to:
Features interview with Elise, pay-productivity chart, CEO pay data, and data from the data library.
Johnny Harris (YouTube)
June 20, 2025
If Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” passes the Senate, ICE will have $45 billion to expand its capacity to detain illegal migrants, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
New York Post
June 20, 2025
Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” includes about $45 billion for ICE to expand its detention center capacity, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Raw Story
June 20, 2025
If Republicans manage to push their so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” through the Senate, ICE could see a massive cash injection of $45 billion to ramp up detention capacity, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Daily Beast
June 20, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator (which takes into account housing, food, transportation, healthcare, taxes, and other necessities) estimates that a household with two adults and no children living in Multnomah County would spend $6,346 a month on average or $76,154 a year.
Investopedia
June 20, 2025