Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute think tank, wrote in a Dec. 5 blog post that federal statistical agencies such as the BLS and the Census Bureau provide critical “gold standard data” for understanding the labor market.
She added that without the data, it will “materially harm” the Federal Reserve’s ability to make a data-informed decision on the interest rate policy, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Manufacturing Dive
December 11, 2025
And the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said the housing deduction will “harm U.S. farmworkers, not help them.”
Previous H-2A rules “required employers to offer no-cost housing to U.S. farmworkers if they were in corresponding employment with H-2A workers; thus, they were entitled to the same benefit if they needed housing,” EPI said.
“But the massive reduction in wages that H-2A workers will see from the housing deduction will greatly reduce labor costs for employers who hire H-2A workers as compared to U.S. farmworkers — undercutting U.S. wages and incentivizing employers to hire H-2A workers and bypass U.S. farmworkers — which will unquestionably ‘adversely affect’ the wages and working conditions of U.S. farmworkers.”
AgriPulse
December 11, 2025
From 2020 to 2024, data from NAHB shows existing home prices increased by over 37%, spurred by the post-pandemic real estate buying frenzy. The year-over-year wage growth for private employees is just 3.9%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Homes.com
December 11, 2025
However, some economists disagree, and some studies have shown that these effects are generally small and localized. A blog post written by Economist Josh Bivens for the Economic Policy Institute and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research has found that modest minimum-wage increases only raise prices marginally. Many businesses absorb wage increases through productivity improvements, slower hiring, or reduced turnover, rather than significant price hikes
Southeast Arrow (Missouri)
December 11, 2025
During Wednesday’s briefing, Adam Keller, Arise’s Worker Power Campaign director, highlighted several figures published by the Economic Policy Institute, EPI, showcasing the crucial role which unions play in expanding worker power. One such figure paints a directly inverse correlation between union membership and the percentage of income going to the top 10 percent. Keller explained that as American union membership has declined over the past several decades, the working class has lost more and more of its income as the wealthy have grown wealthier and wealthier.
Alabama Reporter
December 11, 2025
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute suggested that subjecting tipped workers to a separate and lower minimum wage “creates a host of problems,” among them, making them more vulnerable to wage theft.
Colorado Politics
December 11, 2025
Not only that, but a report from the Economic Policy Institute also published earlier this year shows 37% of tipped workers make so little they already aren’t paying federal income tax. So, the “No Tax on Tips” wouldn’t affect them. Meanwhile, Yazmin said everything is getting more expensive.
WFMZ
December 11, 2025
As a result of this intransigence, the federal minimum wage today has the lowest real value that it has had since at least 1956. In 2022, researchers with the Economic Policy Institute estimated that in the 13 years since the last minimum wage increase, prices had increased by more than 27 percent.
Truthout
December 11, 2025
Axios Columbus
December 11, 2025