As of October, nearly 26 million Americans were either out of the workforce or not working as many hours as they would like, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and formerly the chief economist at the Department of Labor in the Obama administration. Although unemployment has fallen from 14.7% in April to 6.9%, roughly 15% of the country’s workforce remains either jobless or underemployed.
CBS News
November 12, 2020
Of course, not everyone left vulnerable by ending of the ACA would go without insurance. Some would use the money they’re currently spending on other necessities to buy health care. The Economic Policy Institute says that would result in major job losses as spending is directed away from local businesses and toward health insurance. A study from the group put the number of job losses in Kentucky after a potential ACA repeal at 55,949.
Spectrum News
November 12, 2020
United States unemployment for workers aged 16 to 24 tripled from 2019 to 2020, hitting 24.4 percent this spring, according to an October report by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive-leaning think-tank based in Washington, DC.
Al Jazeera
November 12, 2020
Elise Gould, a senior economist at Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 5.4 million unemployed workers. And this misses the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed.”
Reuters
November 12, 2020
“It seems like it’s everything,” said Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department economist under President Barack Obama who is the policy director at the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “If it’s 50-50 in the Senate after the Georgia races, then the Democrats will be able to push something substantial through that will be a really key thing for boosting the economy. If not, it just doesn’t seem possible.”
The New York Times
November 12, 2020
“For every 18 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 5.4 million unemployed workers. And this misses the fact that many more weren’t counted among the unemployed.”
Reuters
November 10, 2020
“More than one million veterans –13.2% of all veterans – work for state and local governments and could be severely impacted by the Senate’s failure to provide timely federal aid,” reported John Schmitt and Naomi Walker of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “Because state and local governments are extremely restricted in how they can borrow, congressional authorization for state and local fiscal support is vital to prevent deep cuts in health care and education.”
The McDonough County Voice
November 10, 2020
Economic Policy Institute (EPI) research suggests that realigning the dollar could create 3.5 million to 6.6 million new, good-paying U.S. jobs over the next four years. It’s why currency matters far more than tariffs, particularly when Trump’s Section 301 China tariffs merely shifted the global export picture. Yes, America’s goods deficit with China dropped $30 billion between 2017 and 2019. But total U.S. imports actually continued to grow.
The Hill
November 10, 2020
Policy changes, deregulation and a rapid decline in unionization since 1978 has greatly contributed to the stagnation of wages in the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Differences in wages and productivity are felt even more in minority communities across the country, and COVID-19 is only speeding up this trend of inequality. Recovery efforts to reignite the U.S. economy could further perpetuate wage inequality or could serve as a catalyst to begin the long journey of undoing the damage caused over the last four decades and create a prosperous workforce.
World Economic Forum
November 10, 2020
In fact, Black workers are more likely than other workers to be in front-line jobs where they are at increased risk for exposure to the coronavirus, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. And this affects older adults because “African Americans are more likely to live in extended family households,” Taylor explains. “The essential worker may be more likely to spread the disease within a particular household, especially to the more vulnerable older person,” he adds.
AARP Blog
November 10, 2020