The State of Working America Podcast is part of EPI’s effort to raise workers’ voices to ensure they are heard in the economic policy debate.
Core topics include workers’ rights, inequality, race, gender, labor markets, education and immigration, but we’re interested in all things related to social justice.
Episodes
A new way to think about the minimum wage
In partnership with the Roosevelt Institute and Oklahoma Policy Institute, Economic Policy Institute hosted this webinar that shares a new, evidence-backed framework for raising the federal minimum wage.
The webinar included Roosevelt Institute Director of Worker Power and Economic Security Patrick Oakford, Economic Policy Institute Senior Economist Ben Zipperer, Oklahoma Policy Institute’s Carly Putnam, and was hosted by Economic Policy Institute Executive Vice President Naomi Walker.
Oklahoma Policy Institute is part of EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network, or EARN, which is a network of close to 60 state-focused research, policy, and advocacy organizations in 43 states + DC.
Public education under attack
EPI’s Chief Economist, Josh Bivens; Director of EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, Valerie Wilson; and Economist Hilary Wething, along with a special introduction by Peter Rivera from the Hewlett Foundation, discuss public education and how critical public goods are being attacked at both the state and federal levels.
Fully funded and strong public schools—with fairly compensated educators—lead to a society with high achieving students and fewer teacher shortages that disrupt learning. Yet policy initiatives such as school vouchers threaten to divert resources from public education when what is needed is greater investment, not less
AI—Making employee disempowerment new again
There is much panic around AI’s impact on the labor market. Efforts to blame inequality and unemployment on AI and technology divert attention from the root cause: excess employer power. The best “AI policy” to protect workers would be boosting workers’ power by improving social insurance systems, removing barriers to organizing unions, and sustaining lower rates of unemployment. Economic Policy Institute’s Chief Economist Josh Bivens and Senior Economist Ben Zipperer joined Director of Government & Advocacy Samantha Sanders in a conversation on how policymakers should respond to the rise of AI.
State of Working America Q1 Economic Briefing
Economic Policy Institute Chief Economist Josh Bivens and Senior Economist Ben Zipperer, in conversation with Senior Policy and Economic Analyst Chandra Childers, on how current policies are impacting working people and families, along with solutions that create a more affordable life for everyone.
Building worker power
The Trump administration brazenly attacks workers and their unions, undermining federal labor laws and emboldening corporate union busters. Amid this escalating US worker rights crisis, states across the country are stepping up to strengthen threatened labor standards, level the playing field for unionizing workers, and expand pathways to collective bargaining.
Enjoy this discussion with policy experts, organizers, and state advocates from EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) on building worker power in the states when federal labor laws are under attack.
Who’s got the power?
Enjoy this conversation with author, labor historian, union organizer and Economic Policy Institute Senior State Policy Strategist Dave Kamper about his exciting new book, Who’s Got the Power?: The Resurgence of American Unions.
What’s missing from the affordability debate
Everyone is talking about affordability — and making the same mistake.
Enjoy this conversation from EPI’s webinar series, with Economic Policy Institute President, Heidi Shierholz; Director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy, Valerie Wilson; and Chief Economist, Josh Bivens; moderated by Samantha Sanders, about what’s missing from the current debate!
Why We Have to Keep Talking About Reparations in 2025
In an environment where pursuing equity goals could invite dangerous scrutiny, one could reasonably ask: Is it still prudent to talk about reparations? Join Kyle Moore, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE) for this episode of the State of Working America podcast about his piece on Why we have to keep talking about reparations in 2025.
Rooted In Racism
In this episode, EPI’s Executive Vice President Naomi Walker is joined by Chandra Childers, senior policy and economic analyst with the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), to discuss this history and impact of the Southern economic development model. Southern politicians claim that “business-friendly” policies lead to an abundance of jobs and economic prosperity for all Southerners. But is that true? The data actually show a grim economic reality. Learn more about the failed Southern economic development model in the Rooted in Racism. series of reports at EPI.
The Democratic Advantage
EPI’s Executive Vice President Naomi Walker is joined by EPI Chief Economist Josh Bivens to discuss the historical economic performance of different administrations as detailed in his report, Economic performance is stronger when Democrats hold the White House. According to the report, there is a pronounced Democratic advantage in nearly every measure of macroeconomic performance since 1949.
Ask An Expert: Why have the lowest-paid workers seen historic wage growth?
- Economist Elise Gould discusses new Economic Policy Institute research showing that the lowest-paid U.S. workers saw historic wage growth between 2019 and 2022, even after accounting for high inflation.
Ask An Expert: What is the state of racial equity 60 years after the March on Washington?
Sixty years later, policymakers have failed to meet the economic demands of the March on Washington. Policy analyst Adewale A. Maye discusses new Economic Policy Institute research finding that post-civil rights era legislation has largely failed to address disparities in wages, wealth, and homeownership for Black Americans.
Ask An Expert: What does the surge in workers going on strike mean for racial and economic justice?
In 2023, workers across the country—from Hollywood writers to autoworkers, nurses, and Starbucks baristas—went on strike to improve their working conditions. Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, discusses what this surge in labor actions means for workers and the fight for racial and economic justice.
The Black Agenda
- Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman discusses her new book, The Black Agenda.
- Watch on YouTube
Fact-checking the labor shortage hype
- With Heidi Shierholz and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute
- Watch on YouTube
The Whiteness of Wealth
- With Dorothy A. Brown, author of The Whiteness of Wealth and Asa Griggs Candler Professor at Emory University School of Law
- Watch on YouTube
Democracy, Race, & Justice: Writings of Sadie Alexander. Nina Banks
- Nina Banks discusses her new book Democracy, Race, and Justice: The Speeches and Writings of Sadie T. M. Alexander.
- Watch on YouTube
Native Americans too often left out of economic debate
- With Patrice Kunesh, director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Center for Indian Country Development
- Watch on YouTube
Racialized women’s unrecognized community work uplifts everyone
- With Nina Banks, economics professor at Bucknell University and a board member at the Economic Policy Institute
- Watch on YouTube
America’s debtor prison system must be stopped • State of Working America Podcast
- With Damion Shade, criminal justice policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute
- Watch on YouTube
‘Curb Cut-Outs’: How Black America’s Struggles Bolster U.S. Democracy
- With Tanya Wallace-Gobern, director of the National Black Worker Center Project
- Watch on YouTube
America’s labor revival
- With Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up and a long-time New York Times labor reporter
- Watch on YouTube
Millennials Energize the U.S. Labor Movement
- With Kayla Blado, President of the Nonprofit Employee and Media Relations Director at EPI
- Watch on YouTube
America’s racist economy
- With Valerie Wilson, director of EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE)
- Watch on YouTube
Reimagining the American dream
- With Chris Lu, former deputy secretary of labor under President Barack Obama, University of Virginia Miller Center fellow
- Watch on YouTube
Building worker power
- With Heidi Shierholz, EPI director of policy
- Watch on YouTube
Killing U.S. manufacturing is a policy choice
- With Mickey Ray Williams, Firestone plant worker in Gadsden, Alabama, and Rob Scott, EPI director of trade and manufacturing policy research
- Watch on YouTube
Uber and the gig economy fallacy
- With driver and activist Sergio Avedian and EPI Distinguished Fellow Larry Mishel
- Watch on YouTube
I want to see myself in the data
- With Rhonda Sharpe, director of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race
- Watch on YouTube