States are also backsliding. Many are lowering the ages that children can work in unsafe jobs and increasing the hours they can work. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 31 states have introduced bills to weaken child labor protections in recent years.
Counterpunch
June 16, 2025
While studies like those done by the Economic Policy Institute show that wage growth is exceeding inflation, many Americans don’t feel that way.
Benzinga (via Yahoo! Finance)
June 16, 2025
Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said Gen Zers were almost set up for success. Gould’s analysis of labor market data from …[paywall].
Business Insider
June 16, 2025
Resources:
- “The school bus driver shortage remains severe,” by Sebastian Martinez Hickey and David Cooper (Economic Policy Institute, 2023).
The Economics of Everyday Things podcast
June 16, 2025
But teachers overall face long-standing wage gaps with other fields. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the difference in pay, adjusted for factors like education and work history, hit a record 26.6% in 2023.
The 74
June 16, 2025
At the same time, a growing number of states are either launching or exploring the possibility of launching DOGE-like operations to comb through their own spending and perhaps advocate for more cuts to the civil service. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) says at least 26 states have launched their own version of DOGE.
Inc.
June 16, 2025
If the bill passes as is, said Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, health providers would see a sharp increase in what is known as uncompensated care, when people without coverage get sick but are unable to pay.
“And it means hospitals and doctors no longer receive that income stream from Medicaid payments,” he said. “And lots of them are going to be forced out of business, and there’s going to be closures of hospitals, especially in rural counties.”
Public News Service
June 16, 2025
Shutting down field offices means seniors can’t get help in person; less staffing means longer wait times when they call and more frequent website crashes. “When you add hurdles, or cause a slowdown in terms of processing claims, you see losses in terms of benefits,” Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told me.
The Atlantic
June 16, 2025
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero told CNN that she’s been getting calls from concerned farmworkers across California about ICE crackdowns in the state. There are 2.4 million farmworkers in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute, 40% of whom the Agriculture Department estimates lack legal status.
CNN Business
June 16, 2025
In California, immigrants make up 44% of manufacturing jobs and 40% of construction jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington D.C.
USA Today
June 16, 2025