The Economic Policy Institute argues that depressed hiring rates are broadly undermining labor markets for recent college graduates.
Chronicle of Higher Education
May 26, 2026
Vesconte is not alone. The college degree is “losing its edge”, according to a report this month from the Economic Policy Institute. Despite a growing economy and low unemployment rates, young college graduates are faced with dismal hiring prospects. Survey after survey show that gen Z is experiencing deep economic instability, along with eroding trust in the country’s leadership and weakened social connections.
The Guardian
May 26, 2026
GONZALEZ: Adewale is a labor economics researcher at the Economic Policy Institute. But actually seeing the European attitude toward work in person felt different. And it made Adewale think of this report he worked on a few years back.
MAYE: The name of the report is “No Vacation Nation,”
GONZALEZ: “No Vacation Nation.”
MAYE: Very, very on the nose.
NPR Planet Money
May 26, 2026
Union Democrat
May 26, 2026
A new report is out on some of the top companies who have spent millions fighting their own workers.
And one Iowa company is high up on that list for trying to bust a new healthcare union in Des Moines.
Iowa Starting Line
May 26, 2026
Supporters argue that Oklahoma’s minimum wage, being stuck at $7.25 an hour, is not enough to pay for such basic living expenses as groceries, gas and housing. At $7.25 an hour, they say it adds up to only $20 a year more than the federal poverty level. Sixteen years ago, it was 40% more than the minimum.
They cite calculations from the Economic Policy Institute that say 319,000 working Oklahomans and more than 200,000 children would directly benefit from increasing the minimum wage. Workers would have more spendable income, small businesses would have less turnover, poverty rates would decrease, eviction rates would fall, state and local economies would improve, and communities would be strengthened. An increased hourly wage ensures that workers entrusted with our loved ones, such as home health care workers, childcare staff and teachers’ assistants, could make a basic living.
They also point to studies that find that raising the minimum wage has little or no effect on employment levels and that any increase in consumer prices has typically not been large enough to drive consumers away. The phased-in approach also provides businesses with a definitive timeline to adjust their plans, making SQ 832 a “win-win” for employers as well as employees.
Oklahoma Constitution
May 26, 2026
Brown, who regularly works on these cases, said the number regressed last year. Forbes has reported that the gap is widening and the left-wing Economic Policy Institute said women were paid 18.6% less hourly than men on average in 2025.
KCRG (Iowa)
May 26, 2026
Bouncing around from daycare to summer camps to relatives’ houses can easily add up. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual cost of full-time child care in Florida ranges from $9,548 to $13,021, depending on the children’s ages.
Fort Myers News-Press
May 26, 2026
Tax cuts aren’t the only reason for this growing disparity. Income inequality has “skyrocketed” over the past three-and-a-half decades due to “intentional policy choices that suppressed wages for typical families to accelerate income growth at the top,” according to the Economic Policy Institute (6). By its calculations, middle-class household incomes “would be roughly $30,000 higher today if their incomes had simply kept pace with average income growth since 1979.”
MoneyWise
May 26, 2026
In a recent analysis of the detailed government data, economists at the Economic Policy Institute noted that the wage boost that workers with a bachelor’s degree receive relative to less-educated workers, while still substantial, has slipped, falling to about 55% last year versus about 63% in 2015. That could be because the number of workers with college degrees keeps rising. As of March, about 42% of U.S. employees had a bachelor’s degree or higher, versus about 36% a decade earlier.
Wall Street Journal
May 26, 2026