EPI in the news

• Bank Of America Says Arbitration Is Legal. The Problem Is That It’s Forced

  Mandatory arbitration remains a significant feature of employment agreements. Larger employers are more likely to require forced arbitration as part of the employee contract, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a progressive think tank.

  Forbes | November 10, 2026
• The New House Will Have Genuine Working-Class People. Will It Matter?

  There are a lot of policies that could help working people that Democrats have long said they support—like increasing the minimum wage and making it easier to join a union—that they’ve yet to get over the finish line, especially to improve wages. The new working-class members of Congress could make these policies priorities. “Wages are very real to them, and I do think there has been a lack of like real awareness that wages are part of the affordability equation,” said Celine McNicholas, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C. 

  …

  The blue wave this year was so big it likely swept up even more working-class candidates than were on the national radar, and it could create a Democratic Party with a mandate for big, structural change. The party also has to regain trust. McNicholas pointed out that next year will be the twentieth anniversary of when the current federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, was set. “You cannot ignore issues like a right to a union, basic standards like minimum wage,” she said. “Those can’t go decades and decades without any attention. That is political negligence.”

  The New Republic | November 10, 2026
• Christopher Day: Trust in AI must be built one relationship at a time

  The Economic Policy Institute agreed. Young workers without degrees saw the same rise in unemployment as young college graduates, even though the graduates …[paywall].

  Indianapolis Business Journal | November 10, 2026
• Opinion: Rising income inequality and wage stagnation threaten middle class

  The key to closing this gap is for the President and Congress to pursue policies “that ensure income growth is broadly shared, instead of policies that cause staggeringly fast income growth among the top 1% and much slower income growth for working people,” says a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

  CT Insider | November 10, 2026
• Inflation is only half the problem. Worker pay is also being squeezed

  In 1980, about 80% of corporate income went to workers. Now, it’s less than 68%, according to Economic Policy Institute.

  The Street | November 10, 2026
• Could the government pay you to stay home with your kids? Here’s what families need to earn to qualify

  Another big reason that families consider dropping to one income is the cost of child care. In at least 20 states and Washington, D.C., full-time childcare costs hit lower-income Americans the hardest, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  MoneyWise | November 10, 2026
• Jobs report: Hiring surges past forecasts, but paychecks still lose ground to inflation

  And Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said the job growth in October “puts an exclamation mark” on the healthy revisions to the prior two months.

  Sinclair Broadcast Group | November 10, 2026

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