Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at the Labor Department and senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said it could take over a year for the agencies to finalize rules and regulations around gig work. And the lawsuits against gig companies could take even longer, especially if they go to the Supreme Court.
Protocol
November 20, 2020
But one of the bleakest aspects of pandemic hazard pay is that it was never actually particularly widespread to begin with. A survey conducted by the Economic Policy Institute in June found that only about 30 percent of people working outside of their homes during the pandemic had received hazard pay increases, and that number is almost certainly lower now that most of the businesses that previously adopted hazard pay have ended the practice.
New Republic
November 20, 2020
Recent studies out of the Economic Policy Institute and McKinsey and Company, nonpartisan think tanks, cite the negative impact of reduced and remote learning for children and their futures. Data shows reduced learning time has likely impeded both the amount and quality of learning time with all students, but with a significant impact noted for low-income, Black and Hispanic students. A loss of learning leads to a loss in future earnings and this loss is projected to have a long-term impact, which includes increased dropout rates, decreased educational engagement and a loss of future earnings impacting an already stressed economy.
Chicago Tribune
November 20, 2020
Janine Jackson interviewed the Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens about pandemic unemployment for the November 13, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
FAIR
November 20, 2020
The main concern with raising the minimum wage is that business owners will not be prepared to properly pay their workers. But the minimum wage has been $7.25 for a decade, and in 2019, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that only about 5% of the US workforce was earning less than $9 an hour.
The Daily Utah Chronicle
November 20, 2020
The United States’ five largest poultry processing states — Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi — are all in the South. The region’s poultry industry, which is a dominant source of jobs in many rural communities, has historically relied on the labor of Black people, poor white women, and, more recently, immigrants, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Facing South
November 20, 2020
The recent experience of unemployment claims tells the tale. The Economic Policy Institute found that for every 10 people who successfully filed for unemployment benefits, three to four additional people tried to apply but couldn’t get through the system to file a claim, and two more people did not even try applying because it was too difficult. The need for better systems to satisfy people’s needs became obvious.
Benton Institute
November 20, 2020
Stacker’s slideshow takes a look at how the minimum wage has changed in your state in 2020. A variety of sources were used including the Economic Policy Institute’s Minimum Wage Tracker, the NCSL’s website, and inflation-adjusted wages calculated using the CPI calculator.
Register Citizen
November 20, 2020
As the Economic Policy Institute’s Heidi Shierholz explains,
Another 1.1 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last week, including 742,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 320,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). The 1.1 million who applied for UI last week was an increase of 55,000 from the prior week’s figures. Last week was the 35th straight week total initial claims were greater than the worst week of the Great Recession.
Ad Age
November 20, 2020
According to research by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) the shortage could reach 200,000 by 2025, up from 110,000 in 2018. They say this shortage is due to a number of factors including pay and working conditions. Local districts are covering classrooms with the help of other staff.
WDTN-TV
November 20, 2020