EPI in the news

• The ‘Mario Kart World’ Direct didn’t justify the $80 price, but maybe it didn’t need to?

  That’s where the final and most maddening real-world factor comes into play: your wages. In the U.S., wages have not kept up with inflation or productivity at all over the past several decades. In 2022, the Economic Policy Institute found that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour was worth less than it had been at any point in nearly 70 years. The EPI also found in 2015 that hourly worker productivity had risen by 74 percent in the prior 40 years, while wages for hourly workers had risen by only 9 percent in that same timeframe. Contrast that to the 30 years following World War II, when wages and productivity rose at a nearly 1:1 level.

  Mashable | April 21, 2025
• How these 80-somethings are stitching together work, savings, and Social Security to get through the month

  Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute who researches Social Security, found that older workers’ jobs fall into, on average, 2.6 of six dangerous work categories, including physical demands and high pressure. She told BI that many older workers approaching or past retirement age have had to take blue-collar jobs that are lower-paying and riskier.

  “You have slightly less dangerous jobs for older workers than for prime-age workers, but the dangers that they face are much worse,” Morrissey said.

  Business Insider | April 21, 2025
• Millennial parents are desperate for part-time work. America is penalizing them for it.

  In a 2020 report, the Economic Policy Institute found that part-time workers are paid nearly 20%…[paywall]. 

  Business Insider | April 21, 2025
• The Rick Smith Show – April 21, 2025

  Features interview with Lynn Rhinehart to discuss anti-union employer association letter to Trump’s AG. 

  The Rick Smith Show | April 21, 2025
• Will the Trump tariff war be over by 2028? We talked to economists.

  Josh Bivens, chief economist, Economic Policy Institute 

  In 2028, average tariffs could be 5% − about double their level when Trump took office. Or they could be 25%, or even higher than that.  

  The fact that nobody can say with any certainty where tariff rates will be is absolute poison for every business and family in America trying to make plans for their future.  

  USA Today | April 21, 2025
• The economic impact of mass deportations

  The Economic Policy Institute and the Immigration Research Initiative released a report in 2023 showing the economic impact immigrants have on the U.S. economy, as well as a statistical breakdown of the jobs immigrants hold.

  Daily Democrat (California) | April 21, 2025
• Economist at Marquette banking conference: Trump tariffs are ‘the opposite of strategic.’

   

  Hersh, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., spoke at the 2025 Commercial Banking Conference at Marquette University on April 17. 

  …

  Hersh was the keynote speaker and focused much of his talk on the Trump administration’s tariffs. Hersh outlined a possible future that included countries not trading with the United States, which would lead to businesses not receiving or shipping the products that are needed to survive, which could cause job loss and a contraction in the economy.

  …

  “What gives me hope is we don’t need to be doing any of these policies,” Hersh said. “They can be undone relatively easy if Congress would just step up and act and do its job and provide a check and balance on the President’s authority.”

  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | April 21, 2025

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