Unfortunately, recent research by Yale University disqualifies this claim. Economists at the University found no evidence that the $600 unemployment benefits, initially sanctioned as a bipartisan effort (with Republican support), had reduced employment. In fact, research conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found that cutting the benefits established by the CARES Act would be “cruel and bad economics.” Extensions of the $600 weekly unemployment insurance do make economic sense then.
Colgate Maroon-News
October 2, 2020
“A lot of them graduated in the Great Recession, so they had difficulty being able to get on a career track and secure stable employment,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Now we have this shock of this recession, and that makes it even more difficult.”
The Balance
October 2, 2020
About 28 million workers are either receiving unemployment benefits or have applied recently and are waiting to be approved, including the 1.5 million people who signed up for benefits last week, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
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Total personal income in the U.S. took a $667 billion hit during August (on an annualized basis), according to EPI’s Josh Bivens, who based the analysis off new data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday.
“It would have been more, but some of the enhanced $600 payments spilled over into August data,” Bivens writes. How does that translate to individual workers though? Bivens says you can think of it as an across-the-board pay cut for all U.S. workers, which adds up to a roughly 7% drop. In September, Bivens estimates that this “pay cut” will be closer to 10%.
CNBC
October 2, 2020
The pressure for aid is high. Although new jobless claims for the week declined in the last week (to 837,000 from 870,000), more than 21 million people remain unemployed as a result of the pandemic, according to estimate by the Economic Policy Institute. United and American airlines will furlough 32,000 employees, and Disney has laid off 28,000 people worldwide.
CNET
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