This reluctance to leave an abusive worksite can be compounded by the fact that many H-2A workers arrive with debt they have accrued from paying recruiters to get here. Employers are required to pay all recruitment costs, but recruiters’ practices go largely unregulated since they operate internationally.
The DC-based Economic Policy Institute, a liberal thinktank, has said this amounts to a program that exploits and silences migrant workers, replacing year-round workers in the process. In some cases, US prosecutors have accused farmers and recruiters of using the H-2A program to engage in forced labor trafficking.
The Guardian
June 2, 2025
“It’s really a shame that Congress is trying to further cement this system by preferencing tips in the tax code,” said David Cooper, director of state policy and research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
…
Occupations like hotel cleaning staff are in a “gray area,” said Cooper, with the Economic Policy Institute: “Are they going to start being treated as customarily tipped employees as it relates to this tax preference?”
Such workers might like getting a tax break, he said. “But that might also create more opportunity for employers to start lowering their base pay, maybe even subjecting some of them to the lower tipped minimum wage.”
The Washington Post
June 2, 2025
According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, those with a bachelor’s degree earn roughly 20% more in hourly wages than those without, and master’s degree holders earn an additional 20% on average.
“Real hourly wages have grown both for workers with just a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree by about the same amount—about 35% over the last 33 years,” says Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould, explaining that her data set goes back to 1992.
Fast Company
June 2, 2025
According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, those with a bachelor’s degree earn roughly 20% more in hourly wages than those without, and master’s degree holders earn an additional 20% on average.
“Real hourly wages have grown both for workers with just a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree by about the same amount—about 35% over the last 33 years,” says Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould, explaining that her data set goes back to 1992.
Fast Company
June 2, 2025
Although this legislation has achieved broad bipartisan popularity, economic policy experts and lobbyists disagree on its effectiveness and impact, particularly for employees who rely heavily on tips, like restaurant servers. A February report from the Economic Policy Institute argues that the legislation would help few lower-wage workers while “potentially undercutting pay for more.”
National Restaurant News
June 2, 2025
Now, a lot of that tariff revenue has been raised in just the last couple of months. The question is, will those taxes continue to float to the government, or will these tariffs be negotiated away by the president or perhaps struck down by the courts? You know, it’s hard for Congress to know, as policymakers try to craft a budget, and it’s hard for businesses, too. Adam Hersh of the Economic Policy Institute says that can be really paralyzing.
ADAM HERSH: Businesses don’t know what the tariff policy is going to be tomorrow, let alone two, three years from now, the way they have to be planning. It’s not giving businesses the confidence to make those investments, so they’re just sitting on their hands and wait for this to pass.
NPR All Things Considered
June 2, 2025
“Modern youth sub-minimum wages are a persistent relic of employers’ past and present interest in children as pool of exploitable, low-wage workers,” argued 2024 article from the Economic Policy Institute.
Maine Wire
June 2, 2025
Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, called today’s print of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge “welcome news,” but other data showing a slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in manufacturing activity suggest tariffs are still a risk.
Bloomberg
June 2, 2025
The progressive Economic Policy Institute claims that no tax on tips “will harm more workers than it helps.” It will
- “Help very few workers and undermine pay increases for many more.
- Expand the use of tipped work—a system rife with discrimination and worker abuse— potentially leading to consumers being asked to tip on virtually every purchase.
- Deplete state and federal budgets and create new avenues of tax avoidance, especially for high earners.”
Common Dreams
June 2, 2025