A new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds that rebuilding union power would significantly reduce racial wage gaps while strengthening our economy and our democracy. Communities with higher union membership invest more in public education, are more likely to expand access to health care and provide stronger unemployment protections when people lose their jobs.
Black Press USA
July 26, 2026
By the numbers: About 16.5 million U.S. workers were represented by unions in 2025, the highest number in 16 years, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.
- That amounts to just 11.2% of workers, but the rate varies drastically by industry and job.
- About 36% of education, training, and library employees are unionized. Just 4.4% of workers in computer occupations are represented by unions.
Axios
July 26, 2026
An economic theory was sold to us that people adopted that dramatically increased the power of capital, decreased the power of labor, and shifted this income share. I should just note that, wearing my economist hat, there are lots of reasons income shares can change. One is productivity, for example, but in the case of this period, actually worker productivity kept going up. Just more and more of that productivity was captured by the shareholders and owners of capital and not captured in workers’ wages. The Economic Policy Institute has done some great work on this.
Current Affairs
July 26, 2026
In an interview with The National News Desk on Friday, Josh Bivens, Chief Economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said,
I think what today’s numbers tell us is that so far, we still have pretty low unemployment. And we have a weird mixture of very low hiring, but very low layoffs. And it’s the layoffs which would trigger it increase in unemployment insurance applications. Those remain low.
…
“I would say I’m going to bet inflation over this whole year is going to look closer to like the 3.5% range, which is a notable jump up and which will erase a lot of real income gains for a lot of Americans,” Bivens said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
July 26, 2026
Tripling Union membership could help address the nationwide cost of living crisis. This, according to a new report the Economic Policy Institute announced last week Wednesday Labour Radio’s Sean Hacker up has more at a webinar hosted on Wednesday afternoon, Economic Policy Institute Executive Vice President Naomi Walker opposed the question quote what would America look like if we tripled Union membership and at a virtual press conference held earlier that morning, the think Tank announced a new report that offers an answer to that question. In that world? This week’s EPI report finds nearly one in 3 people would be employed in a card carrying Union job the median worker would make over a quarter of a million dollars more during a 35 year career, racial and gender pay gaps would narrow social programs like public education and Medicaid could be expanded, and Democratic institutions would be less likely to be undermined.
WORT Labor Radio (Wisconsin)
July 21, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute reports the average annual cost of infant care in Massachusetts is $26,709.
The Gardner News (Massachusetts)
July 21, 2026
Nationally, 14 million workers make less than $15 per hour and 20 million workers make less than $16, including overtime, tips and commissions, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Low Wage Workforce Tracker.
PennLive
July 21, 2026
By the mid-1990s, however, two economists at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI president Larry Mishel and Jared Bernstein, who went on to become chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers under Joe Biden) documented that around 1980, productivity continued its merry ascent while wages began lagging farther and farther behind.
American Prospect
July 21, 2026
A separate analysis by the Economic Policy Institute also found the hourly gap increasing, from 18% in 2024 to 18.6% in 2025.
Forbes
July 21, 2026