Economic exploitation adds to the picture. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations in 84 percent of its agricultural investigations from 2022 to 2024, recovering over $1 million in back wages and damages for about 1,300 workers. The Economic Policy Institute reports similar results, finding that nearly 70 percent of agricultural investigations uncovered wage-law violations.
The Fulcrum
March 11, 2026
The Economic Policy Institute adds another layer to this picture, documenting how the Southern economic development model, rooted in policies designed to extract labor with minimal compensation, has produced persistently higher poverty rates across the region. In 2023, the South’s poverty rate stood at 12.4%, compared to 11% in the West and 9.8% in the Northeast and Midwest. The South’s child poverty rate of 18% is the highest of any region, with Black children facing a rate of 30.1%, almost three times that of white children.
“Efforts to continue exploiting Black workers have led to racist anti-worker policies that continue to maintain high rates of poverty, low economic mobility, and high levels of inequality for workers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in most Southern states,” said EPI report author Chandra Childers.
Decked Out Magazine
March 11, 2026
Among those disproportionately impacted were Black women, who make up 12% of the federal workforce (almost double their 7% share in the overall U.S. workforce) and experienced the largest federal employment losses between 2024 and 2025, says Valerie Wilson, a labor economist and director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy.
The DOGE cuts, which continued for several months, contributed to a disturbing trend: Black women’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to a high of 7.5% in September 2025, compared to 4.4% unemployment among all U.S. workers at that time.
The overall net loss in employed Black women in 2025 was driven entirely by public-sector losses, with most job losses in federal government, according to research from Wilson. Among Black women, the largest losses were for college graduates.
CNBC
March 11, 2026
The rising cost of child care has prompted some families to reconsider whether two incomes still make financial sense or whether having one parent stay home could actually save money. For many households, the cost of care for one child can rival a monthly mortgage payment. According to the Economic Policy Institute, child care for one infant now costs more than public college tuition in 38 states and Washington, D.C.
Kiplinger
March 9, 2026
And when you factor in the latest costs, this story from Minnesota Now reports that Rochester tops the five biggest metro areas in the state for an average family of four, coming in with an average cost of living at $138,018– well over the $134,780 a family of four incurs in the Twin Cities, EPI data shows:
- Rochester metro: $138,018 (up from $126,858 in 2025 and $123,640 in 2024)
- Twin Cities metro: $134,789 (up from $127,391 in 2025 and $119,229 in 2024)
- St. Cloud metro: $123,747 (up from $117,247 in 2025 and $99,166 in 2024)
- Mankato metro: $112,330 (up from $105,867 in 2025 and $103,886 in 2024)
- Duluth metro: $107,757 (up from $103,625 in 2025 and $101,940 in 2024)
KDHL Radio (Minnesota)
March 9, 2026
South Florida Reporter
March 9, 2026
Nationally, only about 1 in 10 child care workers get retirement benefits, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Seattle Times
March 9, 2026
Think tanks like Brookings (widely viewed as centrist to liberal) and the Economic Policy Institute (widely viewed as liberal) argue that without coordinated action, the middle class will continue to erode—making affordability less about choices and more about structural barriers. Still, how to pay for those investments fuels sharp political debates.
Investopedia
March 9, 2026