We begin on this Labor Day with an analysis of the state of working America from Lawrence Mishel, who is a distinguished fellow and the former president of the Economic Policy Institute.
KPFK
September 10, 2020
“This morning’s JOLTS data show hiring has slowed dramatically and is now slightly below pre-virus levels,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said. “This is particularly concerning given the enormous remaining jobs deficit. Without congressional action to stimulate the economy, we are facing a slow, painful recovery.”
Business Insider
September 10, 2020
About 12 million people have lost employer-provided health insurance during the pandemic, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). More than 6 million Americans who are unemployed lost health insurance they previously had through their work. But when you take into account spouses and children, the number of those affected more than doubles.
Boulder Weekly
September 10, 2020
To begin, America has a national teacher shortage that is projected to last through the next several years. According to the Economic Policy Institute, by 2025, public schools will need an estimated 300,000 new teachers, but only about 100,000 will be available. In my home state of Indiana, there has been a 50% decrease in the number of students enrolling in teacher preparation programs between 2010 and 2018.
The Observer
September 10, 2020
“A child allowance is an idea that has remarkably broad appeal. It has a lot of support among centrists and progressives, but even Republican politicians like Mitt Romney and libertarian think tanks such as the Niskanen Center have backed versions of a child allowance,” said John Schmitt, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute.
Deseret News
September 10, 2020
In 2019, the Economic Policy Institute laid bare the consequences of a growing teacher shortage: a lack of qualified teachers, instability in the teacher workforce that threatens students’ ability to learn, diminished effectiveness of teachers on the job and high turnover rates.
The Hill
September 10, 2020
But they don’t confront the larger issue: The business model of restaurants is built on the assumption of cheap labor. One out of six restaurant workers live below the poverty line, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and the industry has an exceptionally high turnover rate — 75 percent in 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with 49 percent for the rest of the private sector. In other words, jobs in the restaurant industry look increasingly like gig work — unstable, poorly paid and with few protections for workers.
New York Times
September 10, 2020
He’s talking about the practice of offshoring. It’s when companies move parts of their manufacturing to countries so they can pay lower taxes. The Economic Policy Institute says 1,800 factories shut down here in the U-S between 2016 and 2018.
Newsy
September 10, 2020
“This translates into a job seekers ratio of 2.3 to every job opening,” wrote economist Elise Gould for the Economic Policy Institute. “Another way to think about this: for every 23 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 8.3 million unemployed workers.”
Courthouse News Service
September 10, 2020
“We are already seeing it,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “But it’s just gonna get way, way worse.”
The 19th
September 10, 2020