Media clips

---

• Harris says GOP push to end Obamacare means ‘They’re coming for you.’ How to make sure you stay insured

  And even without those losses, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the ranks of the uninsured to swell. Amid historic levels of unemployment, as many as 12 million Americans may have lost their health insurance since February, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC October 9, 2020
• States, Localities Need Federal Aid to Restore Jobs, Avoid More Layoffs

  More than 70 percent of the lost state and local jobs are in education, both K-12 and higher education. As my colleague Wes Tharpe detailed last month, states and school districts furloughed or laid off hundreds of thousands of education workers in the spring, from teachers in Massachusetts to bus drivers in New York. Half of the lost K-12 jobs in March and April were among special education teachers, tutors, and teaching assistants, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Large losses also occurred among counselors, nurses, janitors, and maintenance workers.

  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities October 9, 2020
• A shortage of teachers and Covid-19 create a perfect storm for the education system

  The shortage of teachers is being felt far beyond just Rhode Island. The Economic Policy Institute reports that, as of September, public K-12 education employment is more than half a million jobs below its year-ago levels, and 890,000 below where it would have to be to keep up with growth in student enrollment since 2008. About half of those roles are teachers; others include counselors, teaching assistants, roles in special education, food service and more.

  Covid-related strains on state and local budgets may only worsen the issue moving ahead.

  “We are seeing federal policymakers not extend enhanced unemployment benefits,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at EPI, noting the stalemate in Washington, D.C., over Covid-related aid. “Where will they have the money to shore up their K-12 education system? Education is often on the chopping block when looking at state and local government budgets.”

  CNBC October 9, 2020
• Extra Edition: Orale Covid-19! Also, Farm Workers: Shortchanged.

  Medical researchers will soon be visiting farm working towns and neighborhoods in California’s Central Valley to offer free Covid-19 testing for farmworkers. In coordination with local community groups, clinicians and lab technicians will tour areas where coronavirus is out of control on mobile health vans to provide rapid antigen testing. The project is known as “Orale Covid-19,” which is short for Organizations to Reduce and to Advance and Lead for Equity against Covid-19.

  Guest: Daniel Costa, Director of Immigration Law and policy Research, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC.

  Radio Bilingue October 8, 2020
• US layoffs still high, but so is skepticism on jobless data

  “Nobody knows exactly how many people are receiving unemployment insurance benefits right now,” said Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Labor Department. That is a “reminder that we need to invest heavily in our data infrastructure and technology.”

  AP News October 8, 2020
• With stimulus negotiations uncertain and federal help gone, many don’t know how they’ll get by

  It’s a lesson that Heidi Schierholz, director of policy at the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute who was chief economist at the Labor Department during the Obama administration, said she thought the country had learned from the Great Recession: A lack of support for state and local governments will put a drag on the economy and slow the recovery.

  “Austerity at the state and local level could cost millions of jobs,” Schierholz said. “It’s just massive, and it makes me want to scream, because this is a totally unforced error. We know how this plays out.”

  NBC News October 8, 2020
• Wichita Falls housing prices outpace median wages

  The Economic Policy Institute said while wages for high-income earners has grown steadily since the 1980s, wages for middle- and low-income workers has flattened, or even declined when adjusted for inflation.

  Times Record News October 8, 2020
• How to Protect Household Staff, and the Household, From Covid

  A report released in May by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, found that the typical domestic worker in the U.S. is paid a median $12.01 per hour. And just one in five domestic workers receives health-insurance coverage through his or her job.

  The Wall Street Journal October 8, 2020
• COVID puts ACA’s safety net role to the test

  Another recent study, using different methods, reported higher numbers for the same period. The analysis released by the Economic Policy Institute last month determined that between April and July 6.2 million people lost employer coverage. The authors didn’t calculate how many found alternative coverage via Medicaid or the ACA, however.

  Benefits Pro October 8, 2020
• As Washington fumbled relief talks, economy’s cracks deepened in recent months

  To some economists, a premature end to government support risks repeating mistakes made after the 2008 housing bubble collapse. Layoffs then by cash-strapped state and local agencies delayed the return to prerecession unemployment rates by four years, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Washington Post October 8, 2020