The two parties differ on extending the government’s enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, which expired in August.
“There seems to be some agreement that some enhanced benefit should be put back into place, but how much, I think, could be a point of disagreement,” said Josh Bivens, research director with the Economic Policy Institute.
Also contentious is whether the government should provide more aid to state and local governments.
Bivens said that’s where the stakes are high. “If state and local governments really do start cutting in serious earnest, that’s going to be a really big drag on recovery,” he said.
Bivens said the two candidates are actually likely to spar most on the pre-COVID economy, tax reform, Social Security and protections for people with preexisting conditions.
Marketplace
September 28, 2020
There are myriad ways employment might be affected as well. Economists such as Jhacova Williams and Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute have detailed why Black Americans have higher rates of underemployment than white Americans. One reason is that Black people do not have the capital — such as from a home — that would allow for extended periods of unemployment; instead, they are forced to accept subpar opportunities out of an immediate need to pay bills.
VOX
September 28, 2020
The U.S. lost 22 million jobs as a result of the virus outbreak. Between February and April, Black workers saw a greater loss in employment than white workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which noted that in April less than half of the black adult population was employed.
EPI said that economic devastation was particularly widespread in the black community because they have traditionally experienced higher unemployment rates, lower wages and have less savings to fall back on.
Fox Business
September 28, 2020
Meanwhile, Black and Latino workers are performing more than one-third of the jobs deemed essential and are a majority in some sectors, especially food and agriculture, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
September 28, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an estimated 12 million people previously covered under an ESI plan lost coverage between February and July. Two separate surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey and Urban Institute, read together, conclude that between 10 million and 11 million people lost ESI coverage from March to the end of July.
Yahoo Finance
September 28, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said Mr. Biden still faced an uphill battle to pass progressive legislation.
Financial Times
September 28, 2020
The layoffs keep on coming. Last week, another 870,000 of us filed standard unemployment claims. Despite some optimism in Washington, the weekly state claims, excluding those who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, “are still greater than the 3rd-worst week of the Great Recession,” points out Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. Read her full report right here.
Newsweek
September 28, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, economista de Economic Policy Institute, recordaba que cuando estaba vigente este extra por desempleo, entre mayo y junio, 9.2 millones de personas volvieron al trabajo y una proporción muy elevada de estos, trabajadores de servicios, ganaban menos en el empleo que con este extra. Es decir, que ese dinero no les hizo dudar de volver al trabajo.
Muchas personas no vuelven a trabajar porque hay más millones de desempleados que ofertas de empleo, recuerda Shierholz.
El Diario
September 28, 2020
Residents of Coconino County need to make $3,611 every month to maintain a modest standard of living, making it the most expensive place in Arizona to live, according to an analysis from 24/7 Wall St.
The Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator was used to determine the local cost of living, which includes housing, food, health care, transportation and other necessities. In many of the locations identified, housing costs can account for more than 30 percent of these expenses.
The Center Square
September 28, 2020