Ismael Martinez, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), told Newsweek that beyond the impacts on lower-income families, a brief pause in payments will lead to significant “economic pain.”
“SNAP benefits make up about 8 percent of all retail spending on groceries–even a short interruption of this spending could lead to layoffs or other painful adjustments in this sector,” he said. “Walmart alone accounts for almost one quarter of SNAP spending (about $25 billion), and SNAP spending accounts for more than 8 percent of their grocery sales.
“It is difficult to understate just how important SNAP benefits are to economically vulnerable families, children and the broader economy. We should be doing everything we can to ensure that families have this vital source of support as the threat of food and economic insecurity continues to rise.”
Newsweek
October 28, 2025
Note that AGI includes both earnings from work and taxable investment income. An Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study examined Social Security Administration data to break down the top tiers regarding average annual earnings. Here is what it found:
Data from the 2022 census found that households at the highest quintile (incomes higher than 80% of other earners) had a mean income of $297,300 per year. The top 5% of households had a mean income of $526,200.
Investopedia
October 28, 2025
President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented” actions regarding independent agencies “will directly undermine the safety and well-being of workers, consumers, and the public,” the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and The Century Foundation said in a joint report released Wednesday.
The report, which was co-authored by former National Labor Relations Board Chair Lauren McFerran, details how the functions of independent agencies “would be compromised if brought under the direct control of the Trump White House.”
HR Dive
October 28, 2025
According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, workers sponsored through the H-1B visa program were paid assigned wage levels that are well below the local median wage. The study also found that the top 30 companies that apply for an H-1B visa are the sponsors of over 25 percent of the visa applications.
Tennessee Star
October 28, 2025
Every few years, CEO pay makes headlines, usually because it’s ballooned again. The Economic Policy Institute reports that CEO compensation at top U.S. firms rose by over 1,200% since 1978. Meanwhile, typical worker pay barely budged.
Work and Money
October 28, 2025
A separate study by the Economic Policy Institute in 2023 put Nevada’s average annual cost of infant child care slightly higher, at $307 per week, but still well below the $1,000 threshold.
The Nevada Independent
October 28, 2025
The H-1B visa program — a key pipeline for skilled foreign workers in tech — has recently been upended by President Donald Trump. A recent executive order now mandates that companies to pay $100,000 per application, a move the White House says will protect American jobs. But critics warn it could shrink the talent pool, raise costs and push innovation overseas. So what’s really changed, who benefits the most and how might this impact the economy? Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, joins The Excerpt to unpack the issues.
USA Today The Excerpt Podcast
October 28, 2025
Ben Zipperer, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, has calculated for me that Black and Latino people represent only a little over one-sixth of workers whose wages put them in the top quintile of all wage earners, though they comprise nearly one-third of all workers.
Bloomberg
October 28, 2025
Polling released earlier this month found that 72% of likely New York City voters support incrementally raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates that if a $30 minimum wage is not enacted, more than a third of New York City workers will earn less than $30 an hour in 2030.
“Discussions of a $30 minimum wage in New York City are not superfluous—they reflect the very real needs of working people throughout the city,‘ EPI’s Sebastian Martinez Hickey wrote in August.
Common Dreams
October 28, 2025
Today, that legacy is clear just by looking at the numbers. About 12% of the civilian workforce overall is Black—but Black workers constitute nearly 20% of the federal workforce. In some agencies—such as the Postal Service and the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs—we are 1 in 4 employees.
With more than 90% of federal workers living outside the nation’s capital, the effect of Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce spreads nationwide. This is especially true in the South, where Black workers make up 35% of the federal workforce in a handful of states, including nearly 45% in Georgia alone. Black workers are able to stay and build a stable career in these jobs; 21% of Black federal employees have worked in the government for 20 years or more. And Trump’s attacks are especially harmful for Black women, who themselves are 12% of federal workers, nearly double their share of the workforce overall, and work at some of the agencies hit hardest by the administration’s cuts.
Black Press USA
October 28, 2025