However, these solutions can also lead to other issues that have the opposite effect in the long run. For example, when you look at things like grocery prices, Josh Bivens, chief economist of the liberal Economic Policy Institute, says, “If you try to push down grocery prices, you could actually start reducing supply. People might start going out of business, or grocery stores close.”
De Franco News Clips (YouTube)
March 27, 2026
Even before Operation Metro Surge, child care was a major challenge for parents in Minnesota, which is home to the third most expensive care in the nation, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute.
Minnesota Reformer
March 27, 2026
It was expressed succinctly in February in a paper by Heidi Shierholz and left-leaning academic Josh Bivens for the Economic Policy Institute.
According to Shierholz and Bivens, state and local governments, whose collective spending soared by 62 percent from 2015 to 2025 (26 percentage points above CPI inflation for the decade!), to reach nearly $4.4 trillion annually, are being “starved”!
Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 27, 2026
DOL cited evidence that some employers use the H-1B system to replace, not supplement, U.S. workers. A 2023 Economic Policy Institute study found that the top 30 H-1B employers laid off at least 85,000 workers in 2022 and early 2023 while simultaneously hiring 34,000 H-1B workers. DOL also points to outsourcing firms that place H-1B workers at client sites where the actual workforce earns significantly more, and where the outsourcing firm’s own “actual wage” benchmark never has to reflect that higher market rate.
Boundless
March 27, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute projects 1.68 million New York City residents, 36.7% of the city’s wage-earning workforce, will earn less than $30 an hour by 2030.
The Guardian
March 27, 2026
D’Esposito isn’t alone. Ten years after stepping back from her law career in 2016, women across the country and on Long Island still face wage discrimination. Nationally, the gender pay gap widened marginally in 2025 for the third year in a row, reversing decades of progress. Smaller pay gap in New YorkOn average, women were paid 18.6% percent less than men last year – a wider gap than the 18% difference between men and women’s pay in 2024, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Newsday
March 26, 2026
These findings mirror broader national workforce research. Reporting from the Economic Policy Institute notes that surveys of U.S. workers consistently show strong demand for flexible scheduling, particularly flexible start and end times. Across multiple polls, majorities of employees say flexibility helps them better manage work and personal responsibilities.
Stacker
March 26, 2026
“The short answer is that it’s a bad idea – a distraction from what would really make a difference: taxing all earnings at the same rate,” said Monique Morrissey, senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute.
Her organization favors a different approach to closing the shortfall: Eliminating an existing cap on the payroll taxes that fund Social Security.
Workers pay into Social Security with a levy split between employers and employees. In 2026, earnings above $184,500 are not taxed for Social Security. Eliminating that cap could fund nearly three-fourths of the Social Security shortfall, EPI estimates.
USA Today
March 26, 2026
Daniel Costa, the director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, said that a big issue with the H-2B visa program is that workers fear retaliation for complaining about work conditions. He added that employers are required to pay for the transportation of their H-2B visa workers in and out of the country.
“They’re very afraid to complain because you know if the employer gets wind of this, they could just fire them, which means they become deportable,” Costa said.
He also pointed out that a big issue with the H-2B visa program is lack of oversight over foreign recruiters. Costa said that recruiters often charge illegal fees to workers, making them vulnerable, and that workers often may not get the jobs or wages they were promised.
Nevada Independent
March 26, 2026
Other groups believe the Fair Admissions ruling and the administration’s quest to eradicate DEI policies will only lead to less diverse schools and workplaces.
“Without protected and equitable pathways for students of color, we risk returning to a higher education system defined by exclusion rather than opportunity,” wrote Adewale Maye, a policy and research analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, last year.
The Center Square
March 26, 2026