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How should we assess and characterize worker wage growth in recent decades? | Economic Policy Institute
Our recently released State of Working America wages report includes new data on wages through 2024. Cumulative median wage growth was just 29% since 1979—or less than 0.6% per year on average. This was far slower than the economy’s potential to deliver wage growth for all workers. In fact, as Figure A shows, median wage…
How Trump’s erasure of environmental data is endangering communities of color | Economic Policy Institute
President Trump has weakened the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by understaffing, underfunding, and restricting its work—leaving vulnerable communities at higher risk of environmental discrimination and racism. Within weeks of taking office, Trump revoked several key Biden-era executive orders on climate, public health, and environmental justice. While some of Trump’s actions have been reversed, his attacks…
The unlawful abduction and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia puts all workers in peril | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration’s unlawful removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador—and willful defiance of court orders to facilitate his return—are demonstrating a flagrant disregard for due process that puts all U.S. residents in danger. The case has become the biggest test of the rule of law so far in the…
Trump’s gutting of public health institutions is setting the stage for our next crisis | Economic Policy Institute
What is happening? The Trump administration is gutting our national public health infrastructure in real time, setting the stage for the next public health crisis. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), tasked with “protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to protect…
Trump is putting crucial school funding at risk by dismantling the Department of Education: See how much federal funding your school district could lose | Economic Policy Institute
Last month, President Trump ordered Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to move forward with plans to close the Department of Education (ED). While this move is illegal and has been met with litigation, it shows the Trump administration’s hostility to public education and raises deep concerns about how public school districts across the country will…
At least 26 states have launched their own version of DOGE: These states are simply rebranding longstanding efforts to undermine government in service of the wealthy | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has wrought havoc on the federal government, diminishing its ability to perform essential work—like administering Social Security benefits for retirees, weather forecasting to predict tornadoes, and environmental pollution cleanup—while creating new inefficiencies and increased public costs. Now, many Republican governors and state lawmakers are demonstrating their…
A coalition of hundreds of employers is asking the Trump administration to override the NLRB and dictate labor law | Economic Policy Institute
With the Trump administration implementing a blizzard of anti-worker initiatives on a near-daily basis, it’s difficult to imagine that these early assaults could be only the tip of the iceberg. But President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk may well have far worse plans to attack U.S. workers and labor relations. One little-seen proposal from outside…
Wage growth since 1979 has not been stagnant, but it has definitely been suppressed | Economic Policy Institute
We recently released our annual report assessing wage growth in the U.S. economy. We highlighted that strong and broadly shared wage growth since 2019 contrasted sharply with much slower and unequal rates of growth before that year. This report's release is also a good time to be explicit about a judgement we’ve made in recent…
Trump attacks on federal agencies have steep implications for Black workers | Economic Policy Institute
In just over two months, the Trump administration has laid off tens of thousands of federal workers at several agencies. Probationary employees, foreign aid staff, and workers dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) were the first targets of these cuts that have since spread to include dismantling the U.S. Department of Education—with more to…
Missouri Republican state lawmakers are pushing a radical anti-worker tax plan | Economic Policy Institute
The piece has been updated to reflect the latest version of the bill passed by the Missouri Senate, which no longer eliminates the state earned income tax credit, reduces the corporate income tax, or changes the graduated income tax rate structure with a flat tax. The estimates of the bill's overall cost and how much…
What is DOGE doing to Social Security? | Economic Policy Institute
Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attacks on Social Security aren’t about efficiency. The word “efficiency” may be in the name of his initiative to reduce the size of the federal government, but a more accurate description of what President Trump’s advisor is doing to Social Security is sabotage. DOGE announced plans to cut…
March jobs report shows a resilient labor market, but trouble is looming | Economic Policy Institute
Below, EPI senior economist Elise Gould offers her insights on the jobs report released this morning, which showed 228,000 jobs added in March. Read the full thread here. So far the labor market has remained far more resilient than expected given the economic turmoil fostered by recent policy decisions. While there were downward revisions…
ICE under Trump is attacking labor rights by targeting a farmworker advocate | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement over the last month, and claims to be targeting “the worst of the worst” for detention and deportation. However, several reports detail how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is targeting individuals simply for exercising their right to free speech, even going as far as repealing…
Cuts to Medicaid will disproportionately hurt people of color and children | Economic Policy Institute
Cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, sometimes called food stamps) are inevitable if Congress and President Trump continue down the budget path they have laid out. Despite President Trump’s claim that he is opposed to cutting Medicaid, he enthusiastically endorsed the budget resolution passed by the House of Representatives in February.…
Federal worker layoffs spike in latest JOLTS report, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg | Economic Policy Institute
Below, EPI senior economist Elise Gould offers her insights on today’s release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for February. Read the full thread here. The topline numbers in the latest #NumbersDay report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover for February showed little changed in February, but we can see the…
Chester is a prime example of corporations benefiting from public investments in South Carolina at the expense of local communities | Economic Policy Institute
Between 2020 and 2024, South Carolina’s job growth meaningfully outpaced job growth nationally. Our recent report analyzes the state’s economic boom in recent years, fueled in part by federal investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. A key industry in the state is manufacturing, especially tires, auto, and auto parts manufacturing.…
The blatant Trump attack on workers you may not have heard about: Cutting the wages of hundreds of thousands of workers | Economic Policy Institute
In a move that starkly exposes just how disingenuous the Trump administration’s pro-worker rhetoric really is, President Trump rescinded the Biden administration’s executive order that increased the minimum wage for workers on federal contracts. The Biden-era rule implementing that executive order raised the minimum wage for workers on federal contractors to $15 an hour in…
Workers of color made historic gains over the last five years, but Trump’s anti-worker and anti-equity agenda threatens to reverse this progress | Economic Policy Institute
Workers of color make up more than 40% of the U.S. labor force, and that share is growing as more of the white non-Hispanic population reaches retirement age and recent immigration trends help sustain the growth of our labor force and economy. Over the last five years, workers of color—who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian…
The stock market is not the economy, but this time they really are sinking together | Economic Policy Institute
Many of Donald Trump’s economic plans put forward during the presidential campaign seemed extremely unwise even to the corporate leaders who supported him and care about profits over everything else. Universal and large tariffs and mass deportations, for example, were clearly anti-growth policies that could hurt profit growth. Often, these corporate leaders and other campaign…
Equal Pay Day: Gender pay gap hits historic low in 2024—but remains too large | Economic Policy Institute
Today is Equal Pay Day, a reminder that there is still a significant pay gap between men and women in our country. The date represents how far into 2025 women would have to work on top of the hours they worked in 2024 simply to match what men were paid in 2024. On an hourly…
Deliberate policy decisions have disempowered workers and increased labor market inequality: The new State of Working America Data Library shows the latest trends in productivity, wages, labor markets, unionization, and CEO pay | Economic Policy Institute
Below is an excerpt from a piece originally published in The Briefing Book, a Substack publication. Read the full commentary here. Rising inequality has been a major social and economic problem for the United States for decades. The policy agenda to stop or even reverse this inequality must start with a clear understanding of what…
Trump administration is gutting the National Center for Education Statistics: Here are five things we only know about schools thanks to the NCES | Economic Policy Institute
Reports indicate that the Trump administration has laid off nearly all staff at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as part of a massive number of staff cuts across the Department of Education. The NCES collects and analyzes crucially important datasets for researchers to use throughout the world. It’s likely that most Americans have…
The right wing has always had an asymmetric power to destroy—DOGE makes it much worse | Economic Policy Institute
In parliamentary systems, winning an election gives one party control of both legislative and executive powers. This means there are big policy swings after elections when parties switch. In the United States presidential system, the separation of powers combined with legislative chokepoints—like the Senate filibuster—means that opportunities for very large policy swings are much less…
No tax on overtime is another gimmick that would do more harm than good | Economic Policy Institute
With Congressional Republicans having passed a budget resolution, one of the tax provisions certain to be discussed in federal budget deliberations will be President Trump’s expressed priority to exempt overtime pay from taxation. The idea has gained steam across the country, with lawmakers in 19 states already introducing bills in 2025 to exempt overtime pay…
The macroeconomics of the Trump administration: Chaotic and harmful policies will make the United States poorer—either rapidly or gradually | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration inherited the strongest economy of any president since George W. Bush—and unlike that economy, there was no obvious macroeconomic imbalance set to pull down growth. In short, the stage was set for the incoming administration to ride the desirable trends of rapid growth in jobs and real wages—as well as declining inflation—for…
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey could signal warning signs ahead: Lower hires rate more concerning with layoffs on the horizon | Economic Policy Institute
Below, EPI senior economist Elise Gould offers her insights on today’s release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for January. Read the full thread here. Another month another important Bureau of Labor Statistics #NumbersDay report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover. Note: these data are for January, so there is nothing here…
A strong Department of Education is critical to public schools | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order aiming to “abolish” the Department of Education—a prominent demand of far-right activists in recent years. His pick for Secretary of Education—Linda McMahon—is hostile to public schools and supports the privatization of public education. The U.S. public education system needs all sorts of reforms to boost its…
Trump’s federal workforce cuts jeopardize the careers of nearly 900,000 veterans and veteran or military spouses: Cuts to federal employment will affect veterans in every state | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump administration’s attacks on federal government workers will disproportionately harm veterans and their families. Nearly 900,000 civilian federal employees are either veterans, spouses of veterans, or spouses of active military, representing 30% of the entire federal government workforce. Federal government employees are disproportionately likely to be veterans due to federal government hiring preferences. Table…
February jobs report is the calm before the storm: Full impact of Trump administration’s federal layoffs and chaotic policy shifts still to come | Economic Policy Institute
Below, EPI economists offer their insights on the jobs report released this morning, which showed 151,000 jobs added in February. From EPI senior economist, Elise Gould: Read the full thread here. You might expect a negative #NumbersDay in this jobs report because of reported layoffs in and out of the government, but, it hasn't shown…
Updated EPI tracker shows more states obstructing progress on workers’ rights: Harmful preemption laws are increasing inequality and repressing democracy | Economic Policy Institute
In recent decades, local governments have stepped up to tackle some of the most pressing economic challenges of our time, including raising minimum wages, developing popular paid leave programs, and ensuring that public contracts lead to good jobs and stimulate local economic development. Local action to raise wages or strengthen labor standards has often been…
Child care is unaffordable for working families across the country—including in New Mexico | Economic Policy Institute
EPI’s updated fact sheets calculate the costs of child care in every state, showing that child care is unaffordable for working families across the country. This early care and education is crucial for children not only because it allows their parents to participate in the labor force, but also because it boosts their socialization, cognitive…
Trump will likely continue attacking the federal workforce in tonight’s joint address to Congress | Economic Policy Institute
Tonight, President Trump will deliver an address to a joint session of Congress where he will outline his political agenda for the next year. Among many other topics, the president is expected to highlight the numerous actions directed at reducing the federal workforce and federal spending, expelling a narrative of rooting out waste and fraud…
The era of cheap cynicism about government is over | Economic Policy Institute
You could plausibly claim that the 2024 presidential election was about any number of issues— immigration, inflation, or tariffs. But nobody can seriously claim that the candidates ever debated whether a corrupt billionaire should be given the illegal power to destroy vital state capacity on a whim. Yet that’s precisely what the so-called Department of…
Harmful Colorado bill would lower the minimum wage for tipped workers in Denver and other cities: House Bill 1208 would prevent localities from setting higher tipped wages for their own workers | Economic Policy Institute
Colorado lawmakers are debating legislation (HB 1208) that would lower the subminimum wage for tipped workers in places like Denver and Boulder County. Such action would be a reversal of the progress Colorado has made recently to tackle one of the largest challenges in the economy: low wages for working people. While the federal minimum…
Before DOGE, the debt ceiling used to be the only quick way political extremists could cause a financial crisis | Economic Policy Institute
The U.S. statutory debt ceiling is an absurd, arbitrary, and worthless political institution, yet it also poses a profound danger of throwing the economy into a full-blown crisis whenever it looms. Elon Musk’s behavior over the past month is eerily similar—including the exact mechanisms through which this behavior could cause a crisis. If the statutory…
A snapshot of the federal workforce that is now under attack from the Trump administration | Economic Policy Institute
In the first month of his new administration, President Trump has taken drastic steps to reduce the size of the federal workforce, from offering nearly all federal employees a “deferred resignation” buyout to illegally firing senior officials at several agencies. While many of these efforts are being challenged in court, the strategy behind them is…
Why we have to keep talking about reparations in 2025 | Economic Policy Institute
Reparations for Black Americans—whether for chattel slavery at the federal level or more local forms of redress for past harm at the state and municipal levels—have long been dismissed as unrealistic and unattainable from a policy perspective. Broad public support for reparations policies has consistently remained shy of a majority nationally, even at the height…
The House Republicans’ plan to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich would slash incomes for the bottom 40%: See impact by state | Economic Policy Institute
The clearest legislative priority of the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress is to keep taxes low for the richest households and corporations. Last week, House Republicans submitted a budget resolution that calls for $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid—the program that provides health insurance for low-income Americans—to help pay for extending the 2017 Tax…
This week in Federal Policy Watch: Elon Musk’s DOGE takes over federal government | Economic Policy Institute
The Trump-Vance administration continued to use its newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by unelected billionaire Elon Musk, to attack the federal workforce and government services. It was reported that the DOGE office gained access to the federal payment system through the U.S. Treasury Department, a complex system that distributes trillions of dollars…
This week in Federal Policy Watch: The Trump administration continues attacks on federal agencies | Economic Policy Institute
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), operating out of the White House, continues to mire the administration in more legal challenges as they pursue unfettered—often unauthorized—access to sensitive federal government infrastructure and data. This week, EPI, the AFL-CIO, and a coalition of member unions expanded our lawsuit to challenge DOGE’s access to federal agencies, adding…