For much of the 20th century, teaching was a stable, middle-class job in the U.S. Now it’s becoming a lot harder to survive on a teacher’s salary: Wages have been stagnant for decades, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, and teachers earn 5% less than they did a decade ago when adjusting for inflation.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
June 25, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute reported last year that 2024 marked a record high in the “teacher pay penalty,” the difference between teacher pay and the income for other similarly-educated college graduates. EPI found that inflation-adjusted pay for teachers had climbed a bit from 1979 through 1996, but has stayed stagnant or dropped ever since, while wages for other college graduates has steadily risen. In 2024, EPI computed that average weekly wages for teachers were $1,447, but for other graduates were around $2,361.
EPI found those penalties varied by state, with lesser penalties for Rhode Island, Wyoming and New Jersey and much larger penalties for Colorado, Alabama, and Arizona.
Forbes
June 25, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, estimated that the end of ACA tax credits alone would cause more than 170,000 Black adults in just 10 major metropolitan areas to lose health insurance, with the largest losses concentrated in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Miami.
The organization predicts ending the credits could lead to more than 200 preventable Black deaths each year.
Word in Black
June 25, 2026
John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, prohibiting wage discrimination based on sex. While the wage gap has narrowed since then, disparities persist. According to the Economic Policy Institute, women were paid nearly 19% less on average than men on an hourly basis in 2025.
Hearst TV
June 25, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute has highlighted Florida as one of the top states in the country for minimum wage violations — a problem that disproportionately affects immigrants, women, service workers and people of color. Wage theft, collectively, costs U.S. workers an estimated $15 billion each year.
Orlando Weekly
June 25, 2026
“When estimating the costs to workers of the similar 2020 Rule, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the rule would cost workers more than $1 billion annually,” they wrote. “Notably, EPI’s analysis only accounted for a narrowing of the joint employment standard under the Fair Labor Standards Act, while the proposed rule expands its scope to include the FLSA, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection and the Family and Medical Leave Act. It stands to reason the costs imposed on workers by this proposed rule would be even higher.”
McKnight’s Senior Living
June 25, 2026
Oklahoma has not been the only state to vote on this topic as the Economic Policy Institute stated that “there have been 28 states and D.C. that have changed their minimum wage law since 2014.” However, even with other states making this change, from the beginning, Oklahoma continued to face a large debate.
The O'Colly (Oklahoma)
June 25, 2026
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute projects that 17 states pay at least $15 an hour this year, including $15.15 in Arizona and $17.13 in Washington.
The Washington Times
June 25, 2026
With a return to research reading, one of the latest issues to catch my attention is an April 27 report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The report details the real source of continuing affordability problems, and explains it’s not just prices rising — because prices have always been rising some.
The institute states the real root of affordability is continuing rising inequality — deliberately caused by big money investors and corporate managers.
The Park Record (Utah)
June 25, 2026
In a handful of states, however, teens who find jobs will find fewer protections under child labor laws. Four states — Indiana, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia — enacted laws this year that weaken child labor protections, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. In all, 13 states had bills seeking to weaken those protections; some are still under consideration.
States Newsroom
June 25, 2026