“Republicans in the Senate allowed the across-the-board $600 increase in weekly UI (unemployment insurance) benefits to expire at the end of July. Last week was the 19th week of unemployment in this pandemic for which recipients did not receive the extra payment,” Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, said in the first of several tweets commenting on the BLS numbers.
“And w/o congressional action, PUA & PEUC”—the federal jobless aid programs—”will expire on Dec 26. Millions of workers are depending on these programs (DOL reports 13.1 million in the latest data). When they expire, millions of these workers & their families will be financially devastated,” she added.
People's Weekly World
December 14, 2020
Between 2009 and 2018, hospital CEO compensation grew 53%, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute found.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 14, 2020
More than 55 million workers across the U.S. qualify as essential, a total that includes health-care workers, according to an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.
The Wall Street Journal
December 14, 2020
Beyond the fact that people might simply need aid, supplying additional unemployment funding is potentially a more effective stimulus tool than what the White House is proposing–that is, giving $600 to individuals who may not need the money. That’s according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. “Stimulus payments go to (most) everyone–even those who have kept their jobs and haven’t seen any drop in income–whereas [unemployment insurance], by definition, goes to people who have lost work and their paycheck.” That means, she says, that the money the government sends unemployed people is more likely to be spent rather than saved. “[These] recipients have no choice but to spend immediately on necessities.”
Inc.
December 14, 2020
Heidi Shierholz is an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. And she says one thing has become clear – this recovery is not going to be quick and clean.
“I think the headwinds now – at least until we get a vaccine because then things will shift – but at this point, the headwinds are really dire.”
NPR Planet Money
December 14, 2020
In the U.S., the average wage gap between a Black and white worker in 2019 was 26.5%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
ABC News
December 14, 2020
Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey, nominated for the Council of Economic Advisers, cut their teeth at the labor-backed, progressive Economic Policy Institute and have extensive experience and expertise on poverty, work, and family.
The Nation
December 14, 2020
Spriggs would only be the fourth Black member of the Board of Governors, a testament to how terribly the institution has done on racial diversity over its 107-year history. Luckily, there are a lot of strong Black candidates, from Michigan State University’s Lisa Cook (an adviser to the Biden transition) to the Economic Policy Institute’s Valerie Wilson.
VOX
December 14, 2020
Index of per enrollee costs for comparable health-care benefits*
Source: Economic Policy Institute
Bloomberg
December 14, 2020