Media clips

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• Minnesota House bill seeks to assist families with child care costs

  The average percentage of family income spent on child care in Minnesota is 18.8%, according to the Economic Policy Institute . EPI data as of February 2025 identified Minnesota child care — reportedly averaging $22,569 per year — as the third most expensive in the United States. Massachusetts child care averages $26,709 per year, and Washington D.C., child care is estimated at $28,356 annually, according to EPI.

  Cloquet Pine Journal (Minnesota) April 14, 2025
• Democrats unveil legislation raising federal minimum wage to $17 an hour

  The bill would raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2030 according to the Economic Policy Institute. The current federally mandated hourly wage is $7.25 and has not increased since 2009.

  The Hill April 14, 2025
• Trump overstates the number of U.S. factories lost since NAFTA while defending tariff hikes

  “Since the very beginning of NAFTA, our country lost 90,000 factories,” Mr. Trump said during his Rose Garden speech on April 2, as he announced a host of tariff hikes. The president repeated the claim in his Monday remarks. 

  While the U.S. has seen a decline in the number of factories, the claim of 90,000 factories lost appears to be based on outdated data and includes small facilities with only a few employees.

  The 90,000 figure matches a 2020 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, which found that there was a net loss of about 91,000 manufacturing establishments between 1997 and 2018.

  However, the analysis relied on Census Bureau data that was significantly revised in 2021, the group told CBS News. The updated figures show a net loss of about 70,500 manufacturing establishments from 1997 to 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. 

  CBS News April 14, 2025
• Democrats push bill to raise federal minimum wage to $17 an hour

  Nearly 40 million workers in the United States earn the equivalent of less than $17 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The EPI estimates that more than 22 million workers in the U.S. will see their yearly wages increase by an average of $3,200 if the legislation passes.

  The Center Square April 14, 2025
• Republicans who say they didn’t vote for this economic crisis are wrong

  On the campaign trail last year Trump promoted massive universal tariffs and went as far as to float the idea of replacing income taxes with tariff revenue. At the time, Adam Hersh, a senior economist with Economic Policy Institute Action, told me Trump’s idea was like “dropping a nuclear bomb on a hurricane.” Hersh calculated at the time that across-the-board tariffs would have to be somewhere around 120% or 130% on incoming goods to make up for the roughly $4.2 trillion in revenue generated through income taxes. With the U.S. set to impose a 104% tariff rate on Chinese goods beginning Wednesday, it’s a bit silly to say none of this was foreseeable.

  MSNBC.com April 14, 2025
• Trump tariffs ‘will increase the unemployment rate to recessionary levels,’ says economist

  But virtually “nothing is 100% made in the U.S.A. anymore,” says Adam Hersh, senior economist at the pro-union Economic Policy Institute. “About 45% of the content of U.S.A. goods is from imports.” About half, 52%, of what Americans purchased in 2023 was “made in America,” according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

  Job losses will far outweigh gains, experts agree.

  CNBC April 14, 2025
• We Have a Moral Imperative To Reclaim America From the Extremists in Power

  Tope Folarin is the executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies. Repairers and IPS, along with the Economic Policy Institute, recently released the report, The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington.

  Newsweek April 14, 2025
• Editorial: Unemployment benefits for striking workers raises concerns

  But could a provision for striking employees be beneficial?

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, it would be good for companies and employees alike.

  Considering extended strikes are rare (most ending within two days) and workers wouldn’t receive pay until they’ve been striking for two weeks, benefits would rarely be paid.

  It could benefit low-wage workers most, because they usually have more riding on their monthly paycheck. If they are able to strike longer and pull their employer to the table without risking their housing or food security, that may help get companies to the table for negotiations.

  Walla Walla Union Bulletin April 14, 2025
• The US may be reversing course on child labour

  Florida isn’t an aberration. The Economic Policy Institute think-tank says 31 US states introduced bills to weaken child labour protections between 2021 and 2024. “It’s much bigger than Florida,” Nina Mast, a policy analyst at the EPI, told me. She thought the bills were a “co-ordinated effort” led by business industry groups with the aim of offsetting pressure to raise wages in the context of tight labour markets and the possible mass deportation of immigrants. But while the trend isn’t limited to Florida, a number of US states including Colorado and Illinois are moving in the opposite direction to strengthen child labour protections and increase penalties for employers that breach them.

  Financial Times April 14, 2025
• Last Week in Southern Labor: 3/28 – 4/4

   

   

  • The March jobs report was surprisingly strong given everything going on. Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould offered her insights here

   

   

  The Valley Labor Report April 14, 2025