Economic Policy Institute

Wage Calculator Feel like your pay has not kept up? You're right. EPI's Wage Calculator shows what you could be making if pay kept pace with productivity.

Ever feel like your pay isn't keeping up? You're right.

Find out why with the newly updated Wage Calculator 👇

Divya Nair, EPI Policy Analyst, testifying in support of HB-7968 to strengthen the state’s paid family leave program by increasing leave to 12 weeks, expanding caregiving leave to include grandchildren and care recipients, and allowing self-employed workers to opt in.

State Paid Leave Programs Cover Nearly One-Third of Workers in the United States | National Partnership for Women & Families Nearly one-third of all private-sector workers (32 percent) are eligible for paid leave under one of the 14 state programs that have been enacted. 46.2 million workers across the country are eligible…

Nearly one-third of U.S. workers are now covered by state-level #paidleave programs - but not in Indiana. YET!

Check out the research from @npwf and then join our growing coalition to demand #paidleave4Hoosiers: groups.google.com/g/inpaidleave

nationalpartnership.org/report/state...

The Virginia legislature is actively working on this legislation but current versions—HB1263 & SB378—exclude home care workers + higher-ed workers.

👉 Strong unions make stronger communities 👈

ALL public employees at all levels of state + local government deserve full collective bargaining rights.

A SNAPSHOT OF TRUMP'S ECONOMY—judged by his own goals: manufacturing jobs are down 100,000 since Trump took office, private-sector job growth is the weakest we’ve seen outside a recession in more than 20 years, and the unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers has increased.

Today's jobs report was much weaker than expected. Payroll jobs fell 92k in Feb, and revisions to Dec data show a loss of 17k jobs. Average job growth over the last 3 months now under 6k.

Household survey population controls indicate a significant drop in the labor force.

#NumbersDay #EconSky

$122,377 needed to support 2 adults and 2 children in Fulton County, GA Housing $22,888 Food $14,787 Child Care $15,878 Transportation $16,186 Transportation expenses are a combination of the costs of auto ownership, auto use, and transit use. Transportation cost data were provided by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). CNT created a modified version of transportation costs from its Housing and Transportation Affordability Index to account for differences in family types in the Family Budget Calculator. Health Care $19,462 Other Necessities $11,697 Taxes $21,478

How much does a modest but adequate lifestyle cost in your area? New Family Budget Calculator estimates from @epi.org

The Trump administration’s short-sighted attacks on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Introduction The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is a small, independent agency whose mission is to support businesses and workers in resolving workplace disputes and building positi...

@lynnrhinehart.bsky.social The Trump administration’s short-sighted attacks on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service www.epi.org/publication/...

Wage Calculator Feel like your pay has not kept up? You're right. EPI's Wage Calculator shows what you could be making if pay kept pace with productivity.

Affordability is top-of-mind today not just because prices have risen. *PAY* hasn't risen in line with a growing economy.

Bad policy choices elevated corporate interests at the expense of typical workers...for the last 50 years. 🤬

See how has affected your pay with the new Wage Calculator 👇

Family Budget Calculator Understand affordability with EPI’s Family Budget Calculator. It shows the income a family needs to afford basic expenses in every U.S. country and metropolitan area. Budgets estimate community-specif...

*Over 5 million people* have used EPI's Family Budget Calculator to understand how much they need to afford where they live.

It estimates costs—housing, food, transportation, child care, health care, taxes, and more—for 10 family types in every U.S. county and metropolitan area.

You can’t starve the public sector to excellence Most people understand a basic truth: you get what you pay for. Skip maintenance on your roof, and you shouldn’t be surprised when leaks appear. The same is true of government. If we want a high-funct...

Every day, public service workers show up for our communities. When we invest in public service jobs, we invest in better outcomes for all of us. More from @epi.org: www.epi.org/blog/you-can...

[finger to earpiece] I'm getting word that "everyone" here means employers who want to misclassify their workers as independent contractors so they no longer have to pay overtime or the minimum wage, recognize unions, provide health insurance...

You can’t starve the public sector to excellence Most people understand a basic truth: you get what you pay for. Skip maintenance on your roof, and you shouldn’t be surprised when leaks appear. The same is true of government. If we want a high-funct...

The central constraint on public-sector performance is not the power of unions—it is chronic underinvestment.

@hshierholz.bsky.social + @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social: If we want a high-functioning public sector, we need to pay for it.

There is no shortcut.

NLRB rules anti-union captive audience meetings an illegal abuse of employer power: States must also continue to broaden protection of workers’ freedom from employer coercion on political, religious m... U.S. employers have tremendous power over worker conduct. For decades, federal law has allowed employers to require workers to attend “captive audience” meetings—and force employees to listen to polit...

More states should join those already protecting workers' freedom of conscience in the workplace by prohibiting employers from threatening, disciplining, firing, or retaliating against workers who choose not to attend mandatory meetings focused on political or religious matters unrelated to work.

“Every worker deserves the freedom to make their own decisions about politics and religion without fear of losing their job,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

“This law protects workers from retaliation … it also gives workers the power to stand up for themselves.”

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U.S. Supreme Court upholds Minnesota's worker protection law decision The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge against Minnesota's ban on captive audience meetings.

🏛️ This week the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Minnesota's ban on captive audience meetings which force employees to listen to political, religious, or anti-union employer views—on work time. 1/

Trump’s State of the Union Ignored the Root Cause of Affordability Problems Rising inequality hurts families, but taxing the ultra-rich can help. On Tuesday night, Trump steered clear of advocating this effective solution to our economic emergency.

Trump talked about affordability in his State of the Union—but skipped the root cause: inequality.

@joshbivens-econ.bsky.social argues the real fix is taxing the ultra-rich and corporations to fund public goods, raise wages, and ease the squeeze on working families.

White supremacy makes us poorer than we could be, and it always has- white families included.

Even as White workers benefit relatively compared to Black folks, we're all made worse off compared to the real winners: wealthy employers, corporations, and grifters like Trump.

New analysis for BHM ⬇️

Opinion | The real Trump affordability "hoax" Josh Bivens: For typical families, the Trump agenda is near-guaranteed to harm their incomes far more than it can possibly reduce their prices.

Trump says he's "won affordability." @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social's latest for @msnownews.bsky.social explains how the data shows a different story...and a policy path toward real affordability wins for U.S. families.

#EconSky #Affordability

Indiana lawmakers are once again trying to weaken child labor laws: Bill sponsored by business owner would enable employers to hide child labor violations Coordinated, industry-backed campaigns to weaken child labor protections continue to target state legislatures in 2026. Yesterday, the Indiana Senate passed a bill to completely eliminate requirements...

It’s not too late for Indiana to reverse course!

If the bill is sent to the governor, Indiana Governor Mike Braun can break with his party to veto the bill, just like Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine did when he vetoed a bill to extend working hours for minors late last year.

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Child labor violations have risen in IN driven by illegal hazardous child labor + illegal employment of children under age 14.

The legislature’s own analysts say this bill will make it harder to protect Indiana children from illegal, potentially dangerous, exploitative, + abusive conditions.

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States with work permit mandates have 31.8% fewer minors involved in child labor violations. The YES system worked. Indiana DOL collected $250K+ in penalties last year alone.

So lawmakers killed it.

When enforcement works, industry lobbies to eliminate it.
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Indiana lawmakers are once again trying to weaken child labor laws: Bill sponsored by business owner would enable employers to hide child labor violations Coordinated, industry-backed campaigns to weaken child labor protections continue to target state legislatures in 2026. Yesterday, the Indiana Senate passed a bill to completely eliminate requirements...

Indiana just passed a bill to eliminate its youth employment registry.

The bill's Senate sponsor? A golf course owner who employs teens…and 2 years ago weakened teen work hour rules + allowed younger teens to serve alcohol.

@ninamast.bsky.social breaks it down 👇
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We’ve been here before, and we know what comes next: White supremacy has always been used to usher in massive economic inequality We’re a little over a year into the second Trump presidency. That second term began with the establishment of “The Department of Governmental Efficiency” (DOGE), a sustained campaign to discredit and ...

Project 2025, ICE, slashing federal agencies like Education, HHS, and USAID…it all fits the historical script.

It’s time to flip the script.

Build a genuine multiracial democracy where people from all groups are treated with dignity and have access to the same economic security + opportunity.

The data:

The Black-white wage gap grew 30% from 1974–2024.
The productivity-pay gap grew 42% over the same period.

These trends move together.

White supremacy functions as the wedge that keeps workers divided while employers capture more output.

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The pattern:

→ Establish distrust. Claim that minorities “corrupt” and “take advantage” of a government that’s overstepped its authority.

→ Halt forward progress. Dismantle and disarm programs w/progressive policy goals.

→ Target and control nonwhite populations. Stoke fear, strip power.

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We’ve been here before, and we know what comes next: White supremacy has always been used to usher in massive economic inequality We’re a little over a year into the second Trump presidency. That second term began with the establishment of “The Department of Governmental Efficiency” (DOGE), a sustained campaign to discredit and ...

NEW research from @kdoc-writes.bsky.social:

White supremacist actions and rhetoric are not just a moral failure—it's an economic weapon. There's a measurable, repeatable historical script used to drive inequality.

We've seen it before. We're seeing it now. 🧵

Many workers have missed shifts without jobs being destroyed making it challenging to measure labor impacts with conventional sources.

We use real-time daily data from Homebase to measure impacts. Thanks to UChicago and Homebase for making the data available.
#EconSky #NumbersDay