New data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute shows a surge in CEO compensation. In the US, CEO’s are paid 325 times the amount of the workers in the companies they run. From 1978–2025, top CEO compensation soared by 1,316% while typical workers’ pay increased only 28%. This widening chasm between management and worker pay is yet another dire consequence of neoliberal economics. In 1965, CEOs were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker.
Counterpunch
September 22, 2026
“There were so many policies that happened in the pandemic that were helping to shore up people, particularly at the lower end, and those things have all disappeared. And now there’s going to be more cuts,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Those things aren’t showing up in the data yet, but I think this is a sign of more trouble to come,” Gould said.
USA Today
September 22, 2026
Since the start of the Iran war, the inflation rate has risen. In January, the rate was 2.4 percent; following the start of the war, the rate spiked to a high of 4.2 percent in May. Since then, the inflation rate has settled in at about 3.4 percent.
However, according to the Economic Policy Institute, wage growth has been about 3.1 percent. This means that, in real dollars, people are earning less and are having their buying power eroded.
International Business Times
September 22, 2026
The NEA report lists the minimum living wage for the state at $63,029 according to the Economic Policy Institute.
WSBT
September 22, 2026
The report cites projections from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) last year on what this could mean if the Trump administration meets its target of deporting 1 million people per year.
Using data from previous immigration enforcement studies, the EPI estimated that nearly 6 million fewer people could be employed by the end of President Donald Trump’s second term if the administration follows through on its deportation promises. That includes 3.3 million immigrants, but also 2.6 million US-born workers, many of whom are working in immigrant-heavy sectors.
Common Dreams
September 22, 2026
Much of this, Mitchell said, is the consequence of federal decisions that have hit D.C. residents hard. That includes deep cuts to the federal workforce, an industry that employed over 13% of District residents as of March 2025, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The 2026 Hunger Report found that the D.C. metro area — which included Arlington and Alexandria — lost 104,000 jobs between January 2025 and January 2026, far more than any other major metropolitan area in the country.
51st News
September 22, 2026
Earlier this month, workers said, they were called into a meeting held by Government Resources Consultants of America. That firm, according to filings to the U.S. Department of Labor, are generally hired to collect information on labor organizing activities, or to persuade staff against organizing. Labor organizations, like the Economic Policy Institute, refer to Government Resources Consultants of America, and organizations like it, as union-busters.
WXXI (Rochester NY NPR)
September 22, 2026
But the pay gap could change again if last year’s cuts to Medicaid and food assistance make it harder for families to find care for children and older relatives, or to keep the healthcare they need to keep working, said Ismael Cid-Martinez, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“I want to be careful about not making too much out of one year,” Cid-Martinez said.
Investopedia
September 22, 2026
Nearly nine decades later, Sanders argues that the standard has outlived the economy that it was built on. Since 1979, net productivity has climbed roughly 90% while typical workers’ hourly pay has risen about 33%, according to Economic Policy Institute data—a gap advocates for shorter workweeks cite as part of the broader case for reform.
Fortune
September 22, 2026
As for the U.S., tipping didn’t become widespread here until after the Civil War, when wealthy Americans returning from Europe helped bring the custom home. But in America, tipping also took on a much more troubling dimension: businesses employing formerly enslaved Black workers, particularly in hospitality and railroad service, used gratuities to supplement low wages. The Economic Policy Institute called tipping “a racist relic and a modern tool of economic oppression in the South.”
Click Orlando
September 22, 2026