Media clips

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• VERIFY: Fact-checking the first presidential debate

  CLAIM: Vice President Biden claimed 10 million people lost health insurance because of the recession.

  That is mostly true. According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, 12 million Americans may have lost health insurance since February. That is based on the fact that most U.S. workers rely on an employer for insurance. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, millions of people lost their jobs. But the Economic Policy Institute has not calculated yet how many of those laid off workers were able to get on public assistance. So while millions lost employer provided insurance, some may have been able to find coverage from another source. Final numbers on how many people lost health insurance completely will not be available until next year.

  Source:

  Economic Policy Institute

  WTHR September 30, 2020
• How Trump and Biden tax policies could affect your paycheck, tax return, investment portfolio and nest egg

  Biden wants the 12.4% Social Security tax to kick back in for incomes above $400,000. The move takes square aim at the country’s highest earners. For example, the average salary for a CEO at the 350 largest publicly-traded companies was $1.325 million (as part of a $21.28 million projected pay package), according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (link).

  MarketWatch September 30, 2020
• White Wisconsinites must reckon with the deep racial inequities in our state

  Nationally, Black Americans’ share of Covid-19 deaths is nearly double their share of the U.S. population. They are also more likely to have preexisting health conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and diabetes, which are associated with greater risk of death from the coronavirus. And Black Americans are 60% more likely to be uninsured than white Americans. Even by these low standards, Wisconsin has a worse than average outcome for Black residents: Black Wisconsinites have accounted for 18% of Wisconsin’s coronavirus deaths.

  Wisconsin Watch September 30, 2020
• Barrett on the bench: Bad news for workers

  “Ginsburg understood this and the history” of worker-boss imbalance, as she wrote in a recent dissent, Economic Policy Institute co-founder Larry Mishel wrote.

  People’s World September 30, 2020
• Black October expected for airline jobs in the United States

  The think tank Economic Policy Institute estimates that, without government help, 5.3 million people could be made redundant by the end of 2021 in the public sector.

  Agence France Press (AFP) September 30, 2020
• Maine still among worst states for teachers’ pay in WalletHub study

  A separate report, published earlier this month by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, shows how much public school teachers nationwide and in each state are paid in weekly wages relative to other college-educated workers even after controlling for education, experience and other factors known to affect earnings.

  MaineBiz September 30, 2020
• Pandemic Threatens Long-Term Job Security After Hospitality Industry Layoffs

  Older workers face a steeper climb if they lose their jobs, with less time before retirement to make up lost wages, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Black and Latino communities have also been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and supporters of “right to return” say it’s a way to keep workers in those communities from being doubly disadvantaged.

  WFAE September 30, 2020
• $2.2 trillion HEROES Act would provide second round of stimulus checks

  Although the nation’s unemployment rate has declined to 8.4% in August from a high of 14.7% in April, more than 21 million workers remain jobless or out of the workforce because of the pandemic, according to an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute.

  CBS Moneywatch September 30, 2020
• Teacher Pay Remains Low, and COVID-19 Has Thwarted Efforts to Raise It

  Another recent report from the Economic Policy Institute found that in 2019, public school teachers were paid 19.2 percent less in weekly wages relative to other college-educated workers, after accounting for factors such as education, experience, and state residence. The gap has grown substantially since the mid-1990s, but has improved slightly since 2018, when the teacher wage penalty was 22 percent. This improvement could reflect pay raises enacted after teacher protests in several states, but EPI says the data are not sufficient enough to say this with certainty.

  Education Week September 30, 2020
• A Model for the Labor Movement: The Working People Weekly List

  50 Reasons the Trump Administration Is Bad for Workers: “As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to protect workers and fight for us. President Trump hasn’t lived up to that noble rhetoric. The Economic Policy Institute reports on 50 ways that the Trump administration has been bad for workers.”

  AFL-CIO September 30, 2020