EPI in the news

• HR Compliance in Construction: Navigating New AI Laws, Wage Rules and Pay Transparency Expectations

  The minimum wage is also evolving. While the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour, there is significant variability across states. The Economic Policy Institute noted that the minimum wage in New York and California increased to $16.50 in 2025 from $16.00 in 2024. 

  ADP | April 2, 2025
• President Trump preparing to announce new tariffs on ‘Liberation Day’

  “It’s probably going to fall heaviest on small farmers and ranchers, small businesses across the country who are going to face both the impacts of increased prices, as well as the retaliation,” said Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Hearst TV | April 2, 2025
• Almost all wealth is owned by top 50% of Americans. Tax cuts may deepen divide, experts say.

  “[T]ariffs are a regressive tax, meaning people with lower incomes will pay a larger share of their earnings in taxes than high-income people,” Senior Economist Adam Hersh and Chief Economist Josh Bivens at the Economic Policy Institute wrote in a March 28 research post. “Tariffs are essentially a consumption tax, and consumption as a share of income tends to fall as incomes rise.”

  CBS Moneywatch | April 2, 2025
• Trump to declare ‘Liberation Day’ with retaliatory tariffs against global trading partners

  “Consumers are about to get punched in the face by the president, and there’s really nothing that they can do to prepare for that,” Senior Economist Adam Hersh of the Economic Policy Institute said. “This could lead to recession in 2025, unless we change course, there’s no question about it.”

  Hearst TV | April 2, 2025
• What would a good tariff policy look like?

  But tariffs are not fundamentally unwise. “​​The reality is that tariffs can be, and have been, effective policy tools for promoting industrial development when they’re done in a targeted strategic way and when they are matched with other complementary policies,” said Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  …

  This was “a lesson learned painfully during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was scrambling to source personal protective equipment (PPE), respirators, and critical medicines unavailable domestically at the necessary scale,” Hersh wrote in an article with Josh Bivens, the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute. Tariffs, in other words, can help ensure that there isn’t a monopoly over crucial imports so that supply chains aren’t completely disrupted in the event of war or, as we learned in 2020, a pandemic.

  VOX | April 2, 2025
• HR Compliance in Construction: Navigating New AI Laws, Wage Rules and Pay Transparency Expectations

  The minimum wage is also evolving. While the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour, there is significant variability across states. The Economic Policy Institute noted that the minimum wage in New York and California increased to $16.50 in 2025 from $16.00 in 2024. 

  ADP | April 2, 2025
• President Trump preparing to announce new tariffs on ‘Liberation Day’

  “It’s probably going to fall heaviest on small farmers and ranchers, small businesses across the country who are going to face both the impacts of increased prices, as well as the retaliation,” said Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Hearst TV | April 2, 2025

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