One of the three, Jared Bernstein, has been a respected face in progressive economic circles for decades. A long-time fixture at the Economic Policy Institute, Bernstein co-authored nine annual editions of EPI’s annual sourcebook on the status of America’s ongoing class war, The State of Working America, and understands the squeeze on America’s workers as well as any economist.
Inequality.org
December 7, 2020
The cost of infant care for one child can take up nearly a quarter of California’s median family income, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, child care workers in Los Angeles County make an average of $14.65 an hour.
LAist
December 7, 2020
According to an analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, if the pandemic unemployment insurance benefits were reinstated and the virus was brought under control, over 5 million jobs could be created or saved.
NBC News
December 7, 2020
Several key pandemic programs are set to expire in less than a month, including a suite of unemployment insurance programs established in the CARES Act. A recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found extending and reinstating enhanced jobless benefits through 2021 could save or create 5.1 million jobs, boost GDP by 3.5% and increase total personal income by more than $440 billion.
Housing Wire
December 7, 2020
There is scant evidence of considerable reshoring, stories of a new wave notwithstanding. One report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute — which, like Trump, has been broadly supportive of reducing U.S.-China trade imbalances and reinvigorating U.S. manufacturing — detailed that between “inconsistent” trade measures and tax policies that “have encouraged outsourcing,” Trump’s China policies have actually “encouraged outsourcing.” Covid-19 may ultimately induce greater domestic production of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, but that wouldn’t result from pre-2020 trade policy.
Washington Post
December 7, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute estimates between now and 2022, $2 trillion in relief is needed, with an additional $400 billion annually through the end of 2024.
WGBTA-TV (Wisconsin
December 7, 2020
Heather Boushey, the president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, also has a long history in the Beltway. She’s worked with and testified in front of Congress as an economist for the Center for American Progress, the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the Economic Policy Institute. In 2016, it was announced that she would take the role of chief economist on the Clinton-Kaine transition team had Clinton won, and she served as an economic counselor to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Fortune
December 7, 2020
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, warned that with key federal unemployment programs set to expire at the end of December and coronavirus infections on the rise nationwide, “millions of workers and their families are in for an even harsher winter” unless Congress takes decisive action.
“The unemployment rate edged down to 6.7%, but for the ‘wrong’ reasons as 400,000 people left the labor force,” Gould noted in an analysis of the new figures. “The number of workers unemployed 27 weeks or more—the long-term unemployed—shot up to 3.9 million in November. Now, over one-third (36.9%) of the total unemployed are long-term unemployed.”
Common Dreams
December 7, 2020
Ackman homes in on the exacerbating growth of U.S. wage inequality. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reports that between 1979 and 2019, the top 1 percent of earners enjoyed 160 percent income growth, while the bottom 90 percent of earners saw stagnating wages that rose only 26 percent of the same 40 year period. “In every period since 1979, wages for the bottom 90% were continuously redistributed upward to the top 10% and frequently to the very highest 1.0% and 0.1%,” it concluded.
Forbes
December 7, 2020
A continued concern for restaurant workers is that many do not have insurance through their employers, and those who contract COVID-19 may not be covered. A 2014 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that 14.4% of restaurant workers were covered.
Dallas Morning News
December 7, 2020