F1 Post-Completion OPT EAD timeline

I applied for my post-completion OPT EAD on March 18th, 2024. My joining date with the employer is May 20th, 2024. The progress tab showed 4 weeks until decision when I applied, so I didn’t bother with applying for premium processing.

I realised quite late that the progress timeline in the uscis website is completely useless and arbitrary. It just kept resetting to 4 more weeks at the end of 4 weeks and now it doesn’t even show a number.

I have already notified my employer that I might have to push my joining date and they are cool with it. But I really don’t want to do this.

If I apply for premium processing now, is it possible that I will have my EAD in hand before May 30th? I’m conflicted because I don’t know whether the pay check I’m gonna get by joining early with PP is gonna offset its cost which is around $2000 now. Also I saw on a different post that there are delays with PP as well.

I would really appreciate any advice how I can navigate this situation.