“If we want to stop this virus, we collectively have to be able to keep workers safe and we have to know when people are getting exposed at work,” said Terri Gerstein, senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-funded think tank, and director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. “It’s just layer upon layer of inadequacy in terms of taking the steps needed to protect people.”
NBC News
October 1, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute has estimated that failure to provide support to local government could cost 5.3 million jobs through 2021.
Tech Explore
October 1, 2020
“The economic pain easily extends to over 33 million people in the economy today, and that doesn’t include those who had lost their jobs and regained employment but got behind on their bills or those who lost loved ones and providers to illness,” wrote Elise Gould, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, in a Wednesday preview of the jobs report.
The Hill
October 1, 2020
After loading up on sourdough starters this spring and garden supplies over the summer, this fall Americans may be itching to buy a car. This might especially be true for city-dwellers who’ve previously avoided car ownership, but who now balk at the prospect of relying on public transportation to get around in a pandemic. I love the Lex, the green train, the most crowded train in the City — it zips me from home to work and back. Before the pandemic, we packed in like sardines. So much for that.
Bloomberg
October 1, 2020
Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the center-left Economic Policy Institute, told Business Insider that “scrapping the survey before it’s completed for the year gives them the excuse to use another data source for 2021 and beyond.” And that, in practice, would mean reducing what are already some of the lowest wages in any sector, at a time when these workers are risking their health not only during a pandemic but an extended wildfire season that led the West Coast to experience some of the worst air quality in the world.
“The justification has never been better for higher rates,” Costa said. “And when you consider the billions and billions that farmers have gotten in government subsidies and aid, even just this year, it’s pretty hard to argue that they can’t afford to pay a decent living wage.”
Business Insider
October 1, 2020
The Sydney Morning Herald
October 1, 2020
The new bill proposes that the extra $600 unemployment benefits would return to those millions of Americans out of work. The extra payments would be retroactive from Sept. 6 and continue through Jan. 31, offering more than four months of additional jobless aid to millions of families. The nation’s unemployment rate has greatly improved since the coronavirus led to a soaring rate of 14.7% in April, according to CBS News. The unemployment rate was back down to about 8.4% in August, with more than 21 million Americans remaining jobless, according to an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
October 1, 2020
Sullivan said current data is already showing that many families are struggling to get enough to eat, much less pay their bills. Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute said it’s ultimately up to Congress to step in and help.
Marketplace
October 1, 2020
6 Cooper, David. “The Public-Sector Jobs Crisis: Women and African Americans Hit Hardest by Job Losses in State and Local Governments.” Economic Policy Institute, 2012, www.epi.org/publication/bp339-public-sector-jobs-crisis/.
ICMA
October 1, 2020