Press Releases

News from EPI More than $1.5 billion in stolen wages recovered for workers between 2021 and 2023

A new EPI report finds that more than $1.5 billion in stolen wages were recovered for workers between 2021 and 2023 thanks to federal, state, and local efforts to combat wage theft. 

Crucially, however, this staggering amount represents just a fraction of wages stolen from workers across the country. Federal law does not require employers to provide workers with regular pay stubs, which means workers may not even know they are experiencing wage theft. Prior EPI research estimates that workers lose $15 billion annually in minimum wage violations alone.  

Wage theft can take many forms, including paying workers less than the minimum wage or not paying overtime premiums to workers who work more than 40 hours a week. Wage theft is pervasive across all industries and income levels, but workers who can least afford to bear the cost of lost earnings—particularly low-wage workers—are disproportionately vulnerable to wage violations. 

“Every year, millions of workers across the country are victims of wage theft and are not paid the full wages to which they are legally entitled,” said Margaret Poydock, EPI senior policy analyst and co-author of the report. “Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels should redouble their efforts to combat wage theft, including by strengthening worker protections against wage theft, bolstering enforcement capacities, and increasing penalties for perpetrators.”