South Dakota News Watch
July 1, 2025
This summer, Alaska, Oregon and D.C. will increase their minimum wage for more than 880,000 workers, collectively, raising their earnings by more than $397 million in total, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Twelve additional cities and counties will also increase their minimum wage in July.
The wage increases come at a time when Americans are facing high costs of living. The Economic Policy Institute estimates there is no county in the country where a single adult working full-time could cover housing, food, transportation and health care costs on under $17 an hour.
The Independent
July 1, 2025
It’s estimated more than 880,000 workers in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. will start earning a higher minimum wage starting July 1, according to a new report by economic policy think tank Economic Policy Institute.
USA Today
July 1, 2025
Meanwhile, as the deeply progressive Economic Policy Institute points out, labor law enforcement has a budget of just $2.3 billion — despite having the herculean task of protecting 170 million workers. That works out to $13.50 per worker for labor law enforcement, compared to more than $18,000 per undocumented immigrant.
Bloomberg
June 30, 2025
The House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $155 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement, which one analysis from the Economic Policy Institute estimates to be “more than five times the amount of current funding” – for a total of roughly $185 billion. The bill would triple funding for ICE operations, and calls for $45 billion to be spent on detention facilities – quadrupling current levels of spending. The Senate version of the bill appears to be very similar.
Counterpunch
June 30, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute also stands against the change in policy, saying that the concept will likely harm more workers than it helps.
In addition to concerns that this type of legislation could undermine pay increases for traditionally tipped workers, the group said that it could expand the use of tipped work, a system the institute said was “rife with discrimination and worker abuse.”
Additionally, the removal of tax on tips would “deplete state and federal budgets and create new avenues of tax avoidance, especially for high earners,” according to the group.
Epoch Times
June 30, 2025
If lawmakers were to act on this amount suggested by Rogan and Sanders and raise the minimum wage to $17, approximately 22,247,000 workers would get a big raise, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. That’s 15% of the wage-earning U.S. workforce. The Economic Policy Institute’s 2023 research also found that a $17 minimum wage is the minimum amount needed for a single adult without children working full-time to achieve a “modest but adequate standard of living.”
TheStreet
June 30, 2025
A study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that between 1978 and 2023, executive compensation nationwide increased by 1,085% while average worker pay rose only 24%, according to the union.
Spectrum News NY 1
June 30, 2025
It takes a single parent with two children $106,000 to meet annual basic living expenses, according to the report, citing data from the Economic Policy Institute.
“Our findings reveal that many families — especially renters, single parents, and Black and Latino households — are earning far less than what is needed to afford many basic living expenses, even with full-time employment,” the report read.
LA Daily News
June 30, 2025
“Over the long term, there’s just been more educational upgrading,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. She also noted that teen employment tends to be higher during stronger business cycles, when opportunities are more abundant and employers are willing to hire people with less experience and do more on-the-job training.
MarketWatch
June 30, 2025