Media clips

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• Ahead of extension decision, questions raised about Ohio economic development program

  Arizona State University ranked Ohio 35th in job growth last year. And when the Economic Policy Institute in 2023 looked at state unemployment rates by state since 2007 — the year the Great Recession struck — Ohio ranked near the bottom of states.

  Ohio Capital Journal February 12, 2025
• Is The 40-Hour Workweek The New “40 Acres And A Mule”?

  Since 1979, net productivity has grown by 64%, while the hourly pay of typical workers has only increased by 17.3%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. This gap mirrors the economic disenfranchisement seen after the failure to provide land ownership to freed slaves.

  Forbes February 12, 2025
• Making the Case for DEI’s Continuing Value

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the global economy has eliminated more than 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and nearly 70,000 factories. 

  Governing February 12, 2025
• Wage theft is a critical problem. Organized labor justice is the solution.

  A December 2024 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that “more than $1.5 billion in stolen wages were recovered for workers between 2021 and 2023.” In that period, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered nearly $700 million in stolen wages, while state departments of labor and attorneys general recovered $201.4 million. 

  National Catholic Reporter February 12, 2025
• Wages are rising faster than inflation. Why are consumers still feeling the pinch?

   

  Many Americans saw their inflation-adjusted wages decline between 2020 and 2024, economists say. And wages had stagnated for lower- and middle-income Americans before the pandemic.

  “People were already sort of feeling strapped, so it’s no surprise that people are feeling strapped now,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  USA Today February 12, 2025
• The High Cost to Raise Kids: 7 Tips to Cut Costs

   A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute shows where you live can make a difference in the cost of raising kids.

  Which places are the least and most expensive, and what can you do if you live somewhere that’s increasingly unaffordable? We’ll break it down below.

  Yakima Herald February 11, 2025
• Automotive Manufacturers Lay Low And Watch The Trump Tide Ebb And Flow

  Trump’s executive order to revoke federal funding for investments in manufacturing clean vehicle technologies “portends a bleak future for the jobs and communities building big trucks and buses in the United States,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. Their new report, co-authored with the BlueGreen Alliance, argues that transitioning from internal combustion engines (ICE) to low- and no-emission technologies “is a critical step for eliminating greenhouse gas and other toxic emissions from the transportation economy.”

  Clean Technica February 11, 2025
• Rising minimum wage & more labor cost changes affecting ASCs

  More than 20 states increased their minimum wage on Jan. 1, increasing wages for more than nine million workers by a total of nearly $6 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Beckers ASC Review February 11, 2025
• Trump’s foreign aid cuts scramble young public servants’ career plans

  Government employees tend to make 17.6% less than similarly educated private sector workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. Factoring in government benefits, the difference is still 14.5%, the group found.

  NBC News February 11, 2025
• Worried Trump’s aluminum tariffs will raise prices on canned drinks and metal appliances? Here’s what to expect.

  President Donald Trump’s sweeping 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from all countries, announced Monday night, may not end up meaning much for consumers and the prices they pay, depending on how they are applied.

  While the president said no country is exempt from these tariffs, which are set to take effect March 4, “I still expect the impact on consumer prices to be muted,” Adam Hersh, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told MarketWatch. “The president says a lot of things. It’s not always clear what he actually means, or what will actually happen when the rubber meets the road.”

  …

  “Consumers really didn’t or barely felt the impacts of these tariffs for several reasons,” EPI’s Hersh said. First, Trump eventually lifted the metal tariffs on Canada and Mexico in 2019, and 108,000 products were exempted from tariffs as of mid-2020 because companies were allowed to petition for exclusions, according to EPI.

  “A lot of importers didn’t end up paying the tax,” Hersh said. “Even though Trump is saying no exclusions now, in 2018 the measures also initially had no exclusions and the exclusion petition process was added not too far down the road.”

  Second, while aluminum is used in a wide array of consumer products, “the cost is a pretty small share of the overall final cost of goods,” he said.

  MarketWatch February 11, 2025