Media clips

---

• Harris took more hits than Pence in a night of vice-presidential dodgeball

  China: Biden was unambiguous that China is a problem for the United States and not a friend. Harris completely booted the issue, speaking as if she was at an Economic Policy Institute roundtable — talking consumer prices and Xi Jinping’s approval rating. There is not much that Democrats and Republicans agree on, but both groups think China is a menace.

  The Hill October 9, 2020
• Layoffs Keep Coming With Jobless Claims at ‘Staggeringly High’ Levels

  Add in the people who are still waiting to receive their benefits or hear about the status of their applications and the number rises to over 26 million, says Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute (see the chart below). Shierholz cautions, though, that the data is far from perfect, and is almost certainly distorted by backlogs, double-counting and fraud. “All this means nobody knows exactly how many people are receiving unemployment insurance benefits right now,” she said, “which is another reminder that we need to invest heavily in our data infrastructure and technology.”

  The Fiscal Times October 9, 2020
• Trump’s Anti-Worker Labor Board

  As Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, and Lynn Rhinehart of the Economic Policy Institute wrote in their October 2019 report “Unprecedented: The Trump NLRB’s Attack on Workers’ Rights”: “The Trump board has repeatedly reversed long-standing board precedent, weakening workers’ rights and giving more power to employers. In the two years that Republicans have held the majority on the board, they have overturned NLRB precedent in more than a dozen cases. All of these decisions overturning precedent favor employers.” In most cases, the Board has issued these types of rulings without even bothering to solicit public input, a reversal of its normal practice.

  Labor Notes October 9, 2020
• 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