New report details 47 ways Trump has made life less affordable in the last year

A new Economic Policy Institute report examines 47 of the most significant actions Trump has taken in the first year of his second term to make it harder for working families to afford the cost of living.

While public debate on affordability fixates on rising costs, the administration's most serious harm has come from its policies that hold down wages and weaken workers' bargaining power. The report organizes the 47th president's actions into five categories:

• Eroding workers' wages and economic security

• Weakening workers' rights

• Enabling employer exploitation

• Creating an ineffective government

As the report explains, Trump revoked collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million federal workers-becoming the largest union buster in U.S. history. He also reduced the minimum wage for nearly 400,000 federal contractors.

Further, Trump implemented his mass deportation agenda that will cause massive job losses for both immigrants and U.S.-born workers, particularly in construction and caregiving. His firing of multiple Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioners compromise the agency's independence and undermine the enforcement of federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination and harassment. These are just a few examples of Trump's actions over the past year that have weakened working people's economic security.

"Trump's actions since taking office a year ago reveal a clear and consistent effort to make life less affordable for working people in order to serve the interests of his billionaire and corporate backers. Every dollar denied to typical workers in wages ends up as higher income for business owners and corporate managers. This growing inequality is what is making life so unaffordable for workers and their families today," said Celine McNicholas, EPI's director of policy/general counsel and co-author of the report.