Given the public-health implications, several labor experts said they found Amazon’s posture appalling.
“It’s embarrassing to me,” said Celine McNicholas, a former special counsel at the NLRB now with the Economic Policy Institute. “It’s incredibly sad for those of us that follow this stuff.”
Huffpost
February 8, 2021
The number that slams Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute between the eyes: 3.9 million.
That’s how many jobs we are still missing in the hard-hit, and often poorly paid, leisure and hospitality sector. “People who don’t have an adequate safety net because their wages have been low for so long,” Gould said.
Marketplace
February 8, 2021
The number of missing jobs remains enormous, about 9.9 million below the pre-pandemic level. Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute notes that the number of missing jobs is actually more than 12 million, if lost job growth over the last 11 months is taken into account
The Fiscal Times
February 8, 2021
According to the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, the reality is that the average age of minimum wage earners is 35, 59% are women, 28% have children, 54% work full time and the majority of those who would benefit are essential and front-line workers.
Sarasota Herald Tribune
February 8, 2021
Economist Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute points out that we are “down 9.9 million jobs since February 2020,” just before the pandemic hit. And if the economy had kept growing instead of collapsing, we should have 12.1 million more jobs than we do.
Forbes
February 8, 2021
Thea Lee, president of the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute, praised the NSC staffing moves, saying the White House is seeking to “put workers directly into the international economic policy decision making.”
“Too often worker voices or worker advocates have been brought in after the policy is already formed, and it’s too late at that point to build in a worker rights component or a jobs lens,” said Lee, former AFL-CIO chief international economist and deputy chief of staff.
Bloomberg
February 8, 2021
Under Biden’s plan, the pay boost would give 31% of Black and 26% of Latino workers a raise, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research group.
CNBC
February 8, 2021
“What’s being proposed is much broader, more expansive and more dangerous than any other training wage that exists in any other state. It really does create a second class of worker that can be treated differently than everyone else,” said David Cooper, a senior analyst with the Economic Policy Institute. “The broad category of ‘hard-to-hire workers’ is just so ambiguous, it’s just ripe for abuse and exploitation.”
Orlando Sentinel
February 8, 2021
Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She’s the co-author of “Rescuing Retirement” and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg Quint
February 8, 2021
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There are clear parallels today. Just as 2008 GDP figures underestimated the economic hole Obama inherited, so today’s official US unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent probably undercounts the true labour market pain. Taking into account misclassifications and declining workforce participation, Harvard’s Jason Furman estimates that the realistic unemployment rate is 8.3 per cent, while Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute argues for 11 per cent.
Financial Times
February 8, 2021