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
The Economic Policy Institute projects that deficit-financed tax cuts at full employment would “put a drag on growth” in the future.
The Berkshire Edge
June 2, 2025
Average hourly wages, by decile, for US workforce of 171 million
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Bloomberg
June 2, 2025
A 1990 study by the Economic Policy Institute concluded that, after adjusting for changes in the cost of jet fuel, overall airline fares fell faster in the 10 years before 1978 than they did during the 10 years after.
Washington Monthly
June 2, 2025
Reich’s post drew on data from a 2024 report by the Economic Policy Institute, which shows that while CEO compensation dipped in 2023, the long-term trend is unmistakable: executive pay has exploded over the last four decades.
In 2023, CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms earned 290 times more than the average worker. That’s a huge jump from 1965, when the ratio was just 21 to one.
Benzinga (via Yahoo! Finance)
June 2, 2025
The second consequential measure Biden signed, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, pumps over a trillion dollars into roads, bridges, highways, the electric grid, public transit, and broadband access for rural areas that didn’t back Biden. The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the bill would support 772,000 jobs per year for its first decade, in both red and blue states.
Raw Story
May 27, 2025