EPI in the news

• Interview with Anna Gifty

  And what we know from the data from economic policy institute economist valerie wilson is that about 61% of the public sector jobs that were lost by black women were mainly concentrated in the federal government. Wow. Okay. That’s intense. So the big question is, what do we do about this?

  NBC News Daily | July 22, 2026
• Public schools were America’s great equalizer. What happened?

  The issue might not be how much is spent but where it’s spent. 

  “There are some districts that are spending more than enough, and there are some districts that aren’t spending nearly enough,” Hilary Wething, an economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, told Straight Arrow. “High-poverty districts are under-spending relative to the needs of those students.”

  Wething said all schools could benefit from an overall increase in spending, but focusing funding on high-poverty districts has shown real benefits.

  Straight Arrow News | July 22, 2026
• Trump proposal to end employer race, gender reporting advances

  The lack of demographic data will hinder accountability for employers, said labor economist Valerie Rawlston Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.

  “(The proposal) is consistent with the general anti-equity push of this administration to eliminate pretty much all of the infrastructure that have been in place for equal employment in this country,” Wilson said. “We have laws in place that prohibit discrimination, but the effectiveness of those laws is really dependent on our ability to enforce those laws. And the enforcement of those laws is facilitated by having consistent reliable data.”

  States Newsroom | July 22, 2026
• How the Government’s Obligation to Keep Foreign Workers Safe Collided With Its Efforts to Keep Farms Afloat

  The second change was to slow or stop wage increases for H-2A workers that had soared during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration. After months of industry pressure, the Trump administration last year reduced the hourly pay rate, which it expects will save farmers more than $2 billion a year. Those savings are projected to cost H-2A workers up to 32% of their annual wages, according to the think tank the Economic Policy Institute.

  ProPublica | July 22, 2026
• Tripling union membership

  Tripling Union membership could help address the nationwide cost of living crisis. This, according to a new report the Economic Policy Institute announced last week Wednesday Labour Radio’s Sean Hacker up has more at a webinar hosted on Wednesday afternoon, Economic Policy Institute Executive Vice President Naomi Walker opposed the question quote what would America look like if we tripled Union membership and at a virtual press conference held earlier that morning, the think Tank announced a new report that offers an answer to that question. In that world? This week’s EPI report finds nearly one in 3 people would be employed in a card carrying Union job the median worker would make over a quarter of a million dollars more during a 35 year career, racial and gender pay gaps would narrow social programs like public education and Medicaid could be expanded, and Democratic institutions would be less likely to be undermined.

  WORT Labor Radio (Wisconsin) | July 22, 2026
• Heywood Healthcare tackles child care cost barriers

  The Economic Policy Institute reports the average annual cost of infant care in Massachusetts is $26,709.

  The Gardner News (Massachusetts) | July 22, 2026
• Pennsylvania and 19 other states trap workers in poverty with a $7.25 minimum wage

  Nationally, 14 million workers make less than $15 per hour and 20 million workers make less than $16, including overtime, tips and commissions, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Low Wage Workforce Tracker.

  PennLive | July 22, 2026

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