The Economic Policy Institute forecasts a dire picture if federal aid to state and local governments isn’t secured: over 5 million jobs will be lost by the end of 2021.
Common Dreams
January 19, 2021
In a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute found no progress since 1968 in how Black people fare in comparison with whites when it comes to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration.
ABC4-TV
January 19, 2021
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimates that nearly a quarter (22.7%) of Wisconsin’s workforce would be affected by a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 19, 2021
Still, economic research in recent years has changed the outlook for some by indicating that it doesn’t have a significant impact on employment, said David Cooper, senior economic Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
“That has muted a lot of opposition among folks who may have been opposed, not for ideological reasons, but because they thought the policy did more harm than good,” Cooper said. “I’ve seen companies coming out and supporting it too. Part of that is because there’s broader support for the idea that raising the minimum wage gives additional dollars to go out and spend.”
Bloomberg
January 19, 2021
But the challenges he — and, ultimately, Biden — face are daunting. Even before the pandemic, income inequality was soaring, with earnings rising much more quickly at the top. And now nearly 16 percent of workers are either unemployed or working fewer hours than they were before, many of them Black and Latino, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Boston Globe
January 19, 2021
States and local government, meanwhile, could be forced to further cut their already strained budgets to make up for losses in tax revenue.
“Without more aid they will have to make more cuts, and cut services and that will disproportionately affect lower income families and communities,” said Heidi Shierholz, who served as chief economist for the Labor Department during the Obama administration and is now at the Economic Policy Institute. She said comprehensive aid for state and local governments and additional benefits for the unemployed should be the priority in the next round of measures.
Bloomberg
January 19, 2021
In Greenville County, monthly child care costs are just shy of $500 for one child, according to the Economic Policy Institute. And the annual average cost of infant care in South Carolina is about $7,000, which is one of the lowest rates in the U.S.
Money Magazine
January 19, 2021
The Economic Policy Institute also is pushing for an end to sub-minimum wages for tipped workers. Workers who get tips — including, of course, waitstaff — depend on those tips, which once were thought of as a token of gratitude, as a central part of their income. It is one big reason why the pandemic has been so rough on restaurant workers who now have their customers take food out rather than eat in.
Poynter
January 19, 2021
“What’s happened with unemployment, to me, has sort of most exposed the myth of the unique digital platform or gig worker,” said Celine McNicholas, the director of government affairs for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “You can dress it up, you can put it on a phone and make it an app and make it pretty and make it seem like it’s something else, but at the end of the day, it’s misclassification, and we need to tighten those standards in the Department of Labor to crack down on it.”
Washington Post
January 19, 2021
Distance learning during the pandemic has been an abject failure. Despite the heroic efforts of many teachers, school staff and administrators, we’re failing our kids. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute shows that we’ve thwarted child development and increased the equity gap between our students and families. That’s on top of the fact that kids aren’t learning like they should.
The Reporter
January 19, 2021