A study by the investment bank Evercore ISI found that by late August of this year, employment rates for workers earning more than $16 per hour were more or less back to pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, employment rates for workers earning less than $16 per hour remained 27% below where they were in February and were falling sharply, creating the K-shape recovery that so many feared. And this is not because the working poor have suddenly decided not to work. According to a July report by the Economic Policy Institute, nearly 12 million workers who lost their job because of the pandemic have no chance of being called back. Their jobs are gone forever.
Justia
October 27, 2020
The economic impact of COVID-19 has left 6.2 million Americans, not counting their dependents, without health coverage, according to an estimate by The Economic Policy Institute. Roughly 90% of Americans with dental insurance are a member of a group plan, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, so it is likely that many people also lost their dental coverage.
Yahoo Finance
October 27, 2020
“The enormous contraction of GDP in the second quarter means any growth in the third quarter is coming off of a significantly smaller base of GDP,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute.
So the jump we will see in Thursday’s data doesn’t mean the economy is out of the woods yet — not even close. If the forecasts are right, economic activity would be about $747 billion per year below its prior peak — meaning, the recovery is far from complete.
CNN Business
October 27, 2020
Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute takes us to school of the value of a college education.
The List TV
October 27, 2020
A May 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that 60 percent of H-1B positions certified by the DOL in fiscal year 2019 were assigned the two lowest prevailing wage levels, which were “significantly lower” than the local median salaries surveyed for occupations.
“Employers can reap significant savings by selecting the two lowest wage levels instead of the Level 3 median wage or Level 4 above-median wage,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at EPI.
Costa illustrated the following example of software developers in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area prior to the new rule being implemented: Employers hiring at Level 1 pay $75,000 versus the median wage for the job in the region—represented by Level 3 at $117,000. Those hiring at Level 2 pay $96,000.
SHRM
October 26, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, about 16% of all veterans—1.2 million men and women–are covered by a union contracts (compared to 10.3% of all workers). They are most heavily represented in the American Federation of Government Employees and American Postal Workers, where veterans have a strong collective identity and internal union presence. On an individual basis, union members who are veterans may also belong to local posts of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or AMVETS.
LA Progressive
October 26, 2020
The United States could add between 6.9 and 12.9 million new jobs by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, boosting U.S. exports and eliminating the nation’s trade deficit, according to a new plan released today by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).
An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the plan would add a minimum of 2 million jobs through infrastructure investments, 1.3 million jobs by investing in clean energy and energy efficiency improvements, and 3.5 million jobs from trade and competitiveness policies. At least 2.5 million of the jobs would be in U.S. manufacturing.
Industry Today
October 26, 2020
Nearly 30 million Americans did not have health insurance last year, and an estimated 12 million people lost their employer-sponsored health insurance due to the pandemic, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute. Trump and Biden have very different opinions on how to fix this problem.
Time Magazine
October 26, 2020