"The overall slowdown in national job postings...does not appear to be driven (even modestly) by AI."

Development Director Economic Policy Institute is hiring a Development Director to lead fundraising strategy and operations, deepen and expand philanthropic support, and bring outstanding organizational and process-manage...

EPI is hiring a Development Director!

What is the State of Working America and the U.S. economy in 2026?

Join @joshbivens-econ.bsky.social, @benzipperer.org + Chandra Childers as they discuss how current policies impact working people and solutions that create a more affordable life for everyone.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

The gender pay gap widened slightly in 2025: How Trump’s first year in office hurt women and what states can do to fix it Key takeaways: The persistent gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025; women were paid 18.6% less than men on average after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, marital status, and sta...

New analysis from @elisegould.bsky.social and Emma Cohn ahead of #EqualPayDay and the headline is grim: The gender wage gap just widened—after hitting a series low of 18.0% in 2024, it's back up to 18.6% in 2025.

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The gender pay gap widened slightly in 2025: How Trump’s first year in office hurt women and what states can do to fix it Key takeaways: The persistent gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025; women were paid 18.6% less than men on average after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, marital status, and sta...

Today is #EqualPayDay, but there's no cause for celebration. This is how far into 2026 women would have to work on top of the hours they worked in 2025 simply to match what men were paid in 2025. Emma Cohn and I detail changes in the pay gap and what we can do about it.
www.epi.org/blog/the-gen...

McClellan, advocates call for subsidies to be restored as ACA anniversary approaches Health care continues to be a sticking point in Washington and Richmond, as state and federal lawmakers clash over funding Obamacare subsidies that expired last year.

The #ACA anniversary is a reminder: more people got coverage, fewer went without care.

But as TCI’s Ashley Kenneth says, “that progress is all imperiled” by federal cuts.

Now, #VaBudget choices will determine whether families keep coverage or lose it.

March 26 is Equal Pay Day, marking how long American women must work into the year to earn the same salary as their male counterparts. The gender pay gap widened slightly in 2025, with women earning 18.6% less, on average, than men. www.epi.org/blog/the-gen... #equalpay #equalpayday @epi.org

we have essentially zero data on how many people ICE has arrested, detained, or deported over the past month

ICE stopped releasing its congressionally mandated biweekly detention reports, and DHS hasn't published its monthly enforcement tables since Trump's inauguration

A 3.5% raise—the maximum adjustment the Council can recommend—would be a necessary yet modest step because it will only partially offset the average 4.2% cost of living increase since April 2024.

Case in point: 2 years ago, the California Fast Food Council instituted a $20 minimum wage for workers at large chain fast-food restaurants.

The Council has not raised the minimum wage further and inflation has steadily eroded fast-food workers’ real wages since then.
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Adjusting minimum wages for inflation is a necessary yet modest step toward protecting affordability for low-wage workers: The case of California’s Fast Food Council In 2024, the California Fast Food Council—composed of worker, industry, and government representatives—instituted a $20 minimum wage for workers at large chain fast-food restaurants. The Council is al...

Policymakers should adjust minimum wages for inflation to improve affordability, including in California’s fast food industry.

A failure to regularly index for inflation provides a windfall to low-wage employers at the expense of their frontline employees.

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The gender pay gap widened slightly in 2025: How Trump’s first year in office hurt women and what states can do to fix it Key takeaways: The persistent gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025; women were paid 18.6% less than men on average after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, marital status, and sta...

Women w/advanced degrees earn less per hour on average than men w/a bachelor's.

Black & Hispanic women face gaps of 25.3% & 27.4% vs. white men—even after controlling for education, age, & geography.

❌ Education is not the fix.
✅ Unions, pay transparency, paid leave, & a higher minimum wage are.

That reversal isn't random.

It tracks directly with the slowdown in low-wage growth—the same dynamic that had been closing the gap—and the policy wreckage of Trump's first year: gutted EEOC enforcement, DEI rollbacks, and child care disinvestment.

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The gender pay gap widened slightly in 2025: How Trump’s first year in office hurt women and what states can do to fix it Key takeaways: The persistent gender wage gap widened slightly in 2025; women were paid 18.6% less than men on average after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, marital status, and sta...

New analysis from @elisegould.bsky.social and Emma Cohn ahead of #EqualPayDay and the headline is grim: The gender wage gap just widened—after hitting a series low of 18.0% in 2024, it's back up to 18.6% in 2025.

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Federal employees are not ok A new survey shows collapsing federal employee morale

New, from me: The federal government is required to track job satisfaction among its employees.
The Trump admin stopped collecting the data, so a nonprofit stepped in.
The results show that a collapse in morale and zero trust in Trump agency leaders. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/federal-em...

www.wric.com/news/politic...

2026 opportunities to expand paid leave policies across the South Proposed Virginia legislation provides a model for other states to follow On January 20, the Economic Policy Institute’s EARN in the South network—a coalition of Southern policy, research, and grassro...

Virginia became the first state in the South to pass comprehensive paid family and medical leave legislation! 👏

For too long, Southern states have fallen behind as other regions have begun to implement comprehensive paid leave programs.

Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Fails to Deliver Jobs for US-Born Workers One year into President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, there’s little evidence that closed borders are boosting employment for US-born workers.

We are now seeing solid evidence that Trump's increased immigration enforcement is not leading to better outcomes for US-born workers - in fact, the opposite is happening, with joblessness increasing for native-born workers as deportations increase:

This Day in Labor History: March 16, 1907. Timber workers in Portland went on strike. This was one of the first actions organized by people affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World. But the AFL joined with employers to crush it! Let's talk about this moment and provide some context!!

To Address Farm Labor Shortage, Trump Administration Turns to Migrant Workers

Trump administration is radically cutting wages for migrant farmworkers in the H-2A visa program because his Labor Department admits that deportations will raise food prices.

The @nytimes.com cites research from @benzipperer.org and I showing that US farmworkers will also see a $3 billion pay cut:

The Trump administration is radically cutting wages for farmworkers in the H-2A visa program - because they’ve admitted that deportations will raise food prices.

This will also put downward pressure on the wages of U.S. farmworkers, reducing their total annual wages by about $3 billion.

Virginia lawmakers took a huge step toward stronger public services & economic outcomes for Virginians by extending full collective bargaining rights to state + local govt employees.

It will be an historic change _IF_ the Governor signs the new law.

👉 Strong unions make stronger communities 👈

NJ Spotlight News: March 11, 2026 YouTube video by NJ Spotlight News

The state can raise revenues by taxing wealthy corporations that profit off New Jerseyans.

"State governments are going to have to work harder to make sure that wealth ... is being pulled back in to pay for the services that make the state great," said @ptrchn1.bsky.social.
youtu.be/CnVwpzrbQS0?...

Lawmakers can seize the opportunity to raise revenue for important priorities - MECEP These three bills could pave the way and altogether would raise over $200 million.

The answer is clear: stop asking for more from working Mainers and ask more of those who have the most. #mepolitics www.mecep.org/blog/lawmake...

Huge thanks to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Speaker Javier Martínez, Chair Nathan Small, and Vice Chair Meredith Dixon for the $60M designated in the state budget for early childhood professional wages! Supporting the workforce will allow universal child care to be successful. #nmpol #nmleg

March 14 is Pi Day, when people across the country celebrate the mathematical constant π (3.14) with slices of their favorite pies. This Pi Day, our Research Team is sharing something they love even more than pie: pie charts.

🥧 Dig in --> buff.ly/1CZr1y1

#NHPolitics #Data #PiDay #NewHampshire

job growth in 2025

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for those looking for work to find a job.

And federal funding choices are making it worse. ncbudget.org/quarter...

Today, the BLS released the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data for January:
- Most measures experienced little to no change since December
- Benchmark revisions indicate very small changes in originally reported data for December, little to no impact on trends

#NumbersDay #EconSky

Last year @benzipperer.org and @cmcnich.bsky.social wrote about the risk from both conflicts of interest and dismantling of ethics requirements.
www.epi.org/publication/...

A sad follow up to this thread: Indiana's Governor Braun signed the bill eliminating the Youth Employment System which protected youth workers and was a deterrent to child labor violations.
stopchildlabor.org/the-child-la...