EPI in the news

• Trump Deportations Could Cost NJ Taxpayers $3K Each, Study Finds

  Mass deportations taking place under the second Trump administration could end up costing the average New Jersey taxpayer nearly $3,000, a new study says.

   

  Nonprofit think-tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently released an online calculator that shows how many federal tax dollars are being spent on mass deportations in every U.S. state, county and city. It also shows what that money could be spent on instead, such as teachers, housing and health care.

  See the calculator here, and learn about its methodology here.

  Patch.com | August 14, 2026
• Millions of Californians are one setback away from crisis

  Those changes were made, even though, a growing number of middle-class Americans are not earning enough to meet their basic needs. It’s something UC Berkeley researchers warned about a decade ago. Since 1979, wages for the nation’s highest earners have nearly doubled, while pay for the bottom 90% has risen just 44%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Napa Valley Register | August 14, 2026
• Trump Says Black Voters Are Flocking to GOP—New Data Suggests Otherwise

  For Black voters, their unhappiness about the state of the U.S. economy reflects the fact that they are now in the worst financial position they have been in a decade, according to a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

  Newsweek | August 14, 2026
• After Years-Long Battle, California Rideshare Drivers Win Certification. Can They Win a Contract?

  There is nothing in the state legislation that forces Uber or Lyft to come to a contract agreement with any union. Such is not the nature of labor negotiations.

  AB 1340, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley), requires the parties to bargain in good faith — but if the companies refuse to do so, the remedy for that is an unfair labor practice charge, which takes time to resolve. As the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute demonstrated in a lengthy examination of corporate tactics, Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe’s (among others) have taken full advantage of that labor-complaint time gap to repeatedly stall negotiations.

  Capital & Main | August 14, 2026
• Hiltzik: Ordinary Americans struggle to fund their 401(k) plans while plutocrats fill theirs with tax-free millions

  The truth is that “tax subsidies for retirement savings are upside down,” as the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute puts it. Some 80% of those subsidies go to households earning more than $100,000.

  There’s little evidence that higher-income households are encouraged by those tax breaks to save more for retirement than they would without them — “they simply steer savings to tax-favored accounts,” EPI says.

  LA Times | August 14, 2026
• Voters in States and Cities Get It: Workers Deserve a Living Wage

  Many of the people we see in eviction court losing their homes are working long hours at difficult jobs. But they work in retail, the home healthcare sector, in food service work, etc.–where their employers do not pay them wages high enough to keep their families housed.

  So that is why, for this week’s episode of We Can Do Better, we welcome David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute. EPI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank working for the last 30 years to counter rising inequality, low wages and weak benefits for working people.

  The national minimum wage is stagnant at a shameful sub-living wage of $7.25 per hour. But, as David tells us, dozens of states and localities are not waiting for Congress any longer. They are raising the wage themselves, including many this year alone. Among the 30 states with higher wages are several “red” states, reflecting the strong bipartisan public support for living wages for all workers.

  Poverty Solutions Podcast | August 14, 2026
• D.C. Has Nation’s Highest Unemployment Rate. For Black Workers, It Tops 10%

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the District’s unemployment rate rose to 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026. This was higher than any state’s rate or the District’s rate itself, and the only rate above 6%. Nationally, unemployment was 4.3%.

  The Washington Informer | August 14, 2026

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