Firms are holding on to workers but not expanding, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, owing to economic uncertainty brought on by tariffs and policy volatility.
Media clips
-
The Economic Policy Institute reports, “Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that 306,800 workers were involved in 30 major work stoppages in 2025, a 13% increase from 2024.”
The Fulcrum April 20, 2026 -
A new report finds fewer than one in four Arkansas residents have access to paid family leave through their employer. That’s despite a 2023 state law which allows certain insurance companies to offer family leave insurance to certain companies.
Chandra Childers, Ph.D., senior policy and economic analyst with the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), wrote the report. As Little Rock Public Radio and KUAF in Fayetteville, Arkansas report, Childers says offering comprehensive family and paid-leave programs can help boost maternal and infant health outcomes.
As Dr. Childers explains, “There’s a range of studies, not only to be able to take for bonding which is really important for both. But it’s also to take care of their health. It ranges from, you know, being able to make sure that they’re getting their doctors’ appointments, their vaccinations. There’s a range of health benefits that we see through this. And it’s lower mortality across the board.”Red River Radio April 20, 2026 -
Despite this, Trump and his Republican allies continue claiming that Americans across the board are saving “thousands” of dollars thanks to his law.
“I don’t know how they’re getting those numbers,” said David Cooper, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
…
He added that giving large tax deductions only to certain groups, but not to everyone else, is likely to bring unintended consequences and even engender resentment. Employers may be tempted to lower base pay and increase required overtime, which could actually save them money while lowering tax revenues to the U.S. Treasury. And customers at restaurants, bars and other businesses may alter their own behavior if they know their server is not paying taxes on that income.
“They may be less inclined, some of them, to tip,” Cooper said.
Huffpost April 20, 2026 -
The Biden administration expanded the definition of an employee in order to try to cover more workers employed in the gig economy. Now, though, the Trump administration is attempting to roll back the definition in a way that, as a new report from the Economic Policy Institute Report shows, could cost the most vulnerable workers thousands of dollars and leave them less safe in the workplace.
…
In a report released Wednesday, the Economy Policy Institute looked at the fields where workers are most likely to be misclassified. The list was filled with old-fashioned jobs like construction workers, truck drivers, home health and personal care aides, and manicurists and pedicurists. “It’s happening to a lot of workers outside of the gig and app space, even though I feel like gig and app [companies] have been taking up a lot of air, and that is largely too because these companies have also lobbied a lot to … carve out drivers or gig workers from employment status in the state laws,” said Margaret Poydock, a senior policy analyst at EPI.
The report found that, on average, a worker who should be counted as an employee but is being treated as an independent contractor could lose thousands of dollars per year, depending on the industry, and as much as $20,399 for construction workers. Workers stand to lose even more in states where wages are higher. These workers also miss out on workplace benefits like paid leave and health insurance, and they foot the entire bill for their contributions to social security and Medicare, instead of splitting it with their employers. It’s also harder for them to get promotions or raises, reducing their long-term wealth.
The New Republic April 20, 2026 -
“African American workers in the U.S. also earn less than White workers in the same occupations, with African American workers paid about 76 cents for every dollar paid to White workers with the same education and experience and in the same region, according to the Economic Policy Institute,” the report reads. “U.S. EEOC data show that race discrimination made up around 35-42% of all employment discrimination charges in Tennessee in 2009-2022.”
WBIR-TV April 20, 2026 -
Behind the policy jargon is a simple problem: child care is expensive, and most Texas families cannot swing it without help. The Economic Policy Institute’s state fact sheets put average annual infant care costs in Texas at about $10,706 in 2025 and around $9,664 for a 4-year-old, and estimate that only about 26.5% of Texas families can afford infant care under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services benchmark. Those numbers help explain why county officials say local pilots, even when generously funded, are no match for statewide affordability pressures without changes in state funding and rules. The full breakdown is available from the Economic Policy Institute.
Hoodline April 20, 2026 -
The economic logic of AI is that humans are expensive to employ, and no human is more expensive to employ than the human who runs the company. In 2024, the last year for which data are available, chief executives were paid, on average, 281 times what the typical worker earns, according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute. Why do we pay them anything at all?
The New Republic April 20, 2026 -
Employees, she said, sense that even a modest upswing in layoffs could “translate into a spike in unemployment pretty rapidly.”
The National Post (Canada) April 20, 2026 -
The end result is easy to anticipate, said Ismael Cid-Martinez, economist with the Economic Policy Institute. More people will lose their food stamps because they can’t find work. They’ll go without and suffer all the attendant problems that come with chronic hunger. That condition causes people to fall sick more frequently and puts them at greater risk of chronic disease, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. For adults, that means even more difficulty finding a job. For kids, it also means delayed physical development and the inability to concentrate at school.
…
“Not to be overly pessimistic about this, but I think that one of the important things to keep in mind is, these are all policy choices,” Cid-Martinez said. “We’re not in this position because of forces beyond our control.”
The American Prospect April 20, 2026 -
The Economic Policy Institute provides families with updated cost-of-living data for various metro areas throughout the U.S. with a helpful Family Budget Calculator.
Investopedia April 20, 2026