On Tuesday, Olivier found some good news lost in the fog of war coverage: Millions of Americans are getting raises. That’s because 19 states increased their hourly minimum wage on Jan. 1, which will add an estimated $5 billion to workers’ pockets.
That’s a big deal, especially in a political moment fixated on affordability and prices. After all, the federal minimum wage has not budged from $7.25 an hour since 2009, and 20 states don’t go above that. In fact, this year’s wage hikes mean there “will be more workers in states with a $15 or greater minimum wage than in states with the federal minimum” for the first time, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
U.S. News & World Report
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, not extending ACA tax credits will disproportionately harm Black Americans, who have long experienced disparities in health coverage. If Thursday’s bill is not passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump, Black families would pay $740 million more in annual premium costs. The EPI reports that allowing the ACA credits to expire would also lead to more than 200 preventable Black deaths each year.
Thegrio.com
January 12, 2026
In Ventura County, a family with two adults and two children needs an annual income of $170,791 before taxes to afford their basic needs, according to the latest data from the Economic Policy Institute. As far-fetched as it sounds, even at this income, they’re living paycheck to paycheck.
Ventura County Star (California)
January 12, 2026
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 2026 is the first year where more workers live in a state with at least a $15 an hour minimum wage than the $7.25 an hour minimum wage.
MLive
January 12, 2026
On Jan. 1, more than 8.3 million workers got pay bumps as 19 states raised their minimum wages for the new year, the Economic Policy Institute reported. These changes mean there are more workers in states paying at least $15 per hour than there are workers in states with a federal minimum of $7.25.
GO Banking Rates
January 12, 2026
“Employers are not doing a lot of hiring right now. Workers are not quitting. There’s not a lot of churn in the labor market so it’s harder for workers to break in,” said Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute.
In other words, low-hire, low-fire.
Marketplace
January 12, 2026
Economist Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute took a look at the jobs numbers and concluded the US labor market now is far weaker than the one Biden left Trump nearly one year ago.
“The slowdown in job growth this year is stark compared to 2024,” Gould wrote on Bluesky. “The average monthly gain was only 49,000 in 2025 compared to 168,000 in 2024. Over the last three months, average job growth was actually negative, meaning there are fewer jobs now than in September.”
Common Dreams
January 12, 2026
That’s part of a nationwide trend. In the same time period displayed by those maps, the share of income earned by the top 10 percent has increased from 33 percent to nearly 50 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Chicago Magazine
January 12, 2026
In November 2025, Black unemployment reached 8.3 percent, almost doubling the national rate of 4.6 percent. Contributing to this data, the Trump Administration’s cut to federal jobs impacted Black workers in every state according to findings from the Economic Policy Institute.
Essence
January 12, 2026