Two other superb Substacks on political economy topics are by Jared Bernstein and Adam Tooze. Bernstein, long at the Economic Policy Institute and then a senior economic adviser to Joe Biden, does a terrific job at unpacking the meaning of newly released statistics on inflation and unemployment, and reading the tea leaves of what’s occurring at the Fed. I write similar kinds of pieces, and I always learn from Jared.
American Prospect
May 11, 2026
Research tying compensation to retention backs up those concerns. Policy briefs from the Economic Policy Institute, along with academic studies, find that raising base teacher pay reduces turnover, particularly at high-need schools, and improves districts’ chances of keeping experienced educators in the classroom.
Hoodline
May 11, 2026
Heidi Shierholz
Economic Policy Institute
President
Shierholz testified to Congress that while Trump inherited an exceptionally strong economy, his policies have been anti-worker— including the rollback of minimum-wage increases for federal contractors and cuts that slash benefits for vulnerable families to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.
Hometown: Ames, Iowa. First job: Detasseling corn. First app she checks in the morning: “Audible. I listen to young-adult novels in Spanish during my morning routine.”
Adam Hersh
Adam Hersh Consulting
Principal
After a four-year tenure with the Economic Policy Institute, Hersh now advises private clients, leading a group of 17 economists to assess the impact of President Trump’s trade policies.
Washingtonian Magazine
May 11, 2026
Tipped workers are also susceptible to violence while doing their jobs. A 2024 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that sexual harassment was more likely to occur in states that pay a subminium wage. “The more dependent workers are on customers to pay their wages, the more they are forced to tolerate abusive behavior from customers,” writes economic analyst Nina Mast in the report. The report found almost three-quarters of women restaurant workers have experienced sexual harassment, more than any other industry, and women workers reliant on tips were harassed 20 percent more than nontipped women workers.
Chicago Reader
May 11, 2026
About 216,000 Oklahoma workers, or one-eighth of the state’s workforce, would benefit directly from SQ 832, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Another 141,700 workers could benefit indirectly through a ripple effect of wages at or just above the minimum wage.
Workers in the restaurant, retail and hotel industries would benefit the most from the policy change, according to the think tank’s analysis.
Public Radio Tulsa
May 11, 2026
Data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that a median-income family in every state exceeds the 7% childcare affordability threshold by 2 to 6 percentage points. For minimum-wage workers, the burden is even more severe—ranging from 29 to 108 percentage points.
Elise Gould, a senior economist at the EPI, began noticing a troubling shift in the data a decade ago.
“All of a sudden, childcare became more expensive than housing in a number of counties across the country,” she says. “It really surprised us.”
Today, her research shows that infant care costs more than in-state college tuition in 29 states and the District of Columbia.
Realtor.com
May 11, 2026
Meanwhile, the group continued, Florida ranks 41st nationwide in per-student funding and 50th in average teacher salaries, with more than 60% of education staff making less than $35,000 per year — well below the $63,853 living wage for a one-adult, one-child household, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Florida Politics
May 11, 2026
Bangor Daily News
May 11, 2026
The new federal rule reclassifies many agricultural jobs into lower pay categories. Daniel Costa with the Economic Policy Institute said the losses could add up quickly. “Both migrant farm workers on H-2A visas and U.S. farm workers combined are probably going to lose between 4.4 and 5.4 billion,” Costa said.
KQED
May 11, 2026
WBKO (Kentucky)
May 11, 2026