In 2025, the federal government increased tariffs—or taxes on items imported from other countries—to their highest level since the 1930s. The “effective tariff rate,” or revenue divided by imports, jumped from 3 percent to about 10 percent. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of the hikes in February 2026, the Trump administration responded […]
Registered apprenticeships are training programs in which participants “earn while they learn” with tuition costs covered by employers or joint labor-management organizations, who gain access to a stable pool of skilled workers. Apprenticeship training is particularly important to combating skilled labor shortages in construction. Joint labor-management apprenticeship programs account for the vast majority of registered […]
The movement to implement “right-to-work” (RTW) legislation has accelerated over recent years. Since 2012, RTW laws have been passed in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. This report investigates the impact of RTW laws passed in three Midwest states for which there is available data – Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin – compared to […]