Join Kojo and a panel of experts for our next Kojo In Your Virtual Community on Wednesday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. for an in-depth discussion on parenting during the pandemic. Kojo will be joined by Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute; Anya Kamenetz, education correspondent at NPR; and Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, clinical assistant professor for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Also joining Kojo is special guest Mercedes Samudio, parent coach, speaker, bestselling author and founder of the Diversity in Parenting Conference.
WAMU 88.5
September 24, 2020
Research published in the Harvard Business Review found that as listings rise in a city, so do rents. Analyses by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, found the costs to local communities of having Airbnb listings, including rising housing prices and shrinking availability, likely outweigh the benefits.
The New York Times
September 24, 2020
We asked policy experts on the left and the right about how the United States can reduce economic inequality. Here are the ideas they offered:
Economic inequality in the United States is real and deeply damaging to the living standards of the vast majority of families. But it’s eminently fixable so long as we’re willing to make a pronounced break with policies of the past to make income growth a genuine political priority.
The roots of inequality’s rise after 1979 are in U.S. labor markets, particularly in the failure of paychecks for most workers to rise in line with broader measures of economic growth.
USA Today
September 24, 2020
But teaching has been in crisis before March. Since the Great Recession of 2008, the country has lost 60,000 jobs in education, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Not only that, but 247,000 more teaching jobs should have been created to keep up with growing student enrollment as the population increases. This has resulted in a shortfall of 307,000 teaching jobs — meaning over 300,000 educators are currently needed right now.
Business Insider
September 22, 2020
q. thirteen news this morning rocking a little earth wind and fire to get things rolling here for the new school year- proving to be a major challenge for everyone students parents and teachers and now consider the fact that teachers are paid almost 20% less than similar workers according to a new study. The Economic Policy Institute finds teachers who generally get better benefits than similar workers are still grossly underpaid taking into consideration education, experience, and demographic factors. Teachers are paid about 19% less than similar workers and the study also found the teachers in our state are among the eight lowest paid in the nation. The study authors say teachers deserve fair pay especially during a pandemic when their personal safety is at risk and they also say the pay gap is forcing good teachers out of the profession and discouraging young people to pursue teaching careers.
Q13 FOX
September 22, 2020
Between February and May the number of Davidson county residents in their early 20s that received unemployment benefits rose nearly six times.
Senior economist Elise Gould with the Economic Policy Institute says the Great Recession showed us how being unemployed early stays with you.
“Starting a career at that point can be hugely detrimental for your lifetime earnings, for your wages, for whether or not you’re going to have unemployment spells throughout your career,” Gould says.
Nashville Public Radio
September 22, 2020
What little economic lifeline some households have been relying on could soon end. As Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at Economic Policy Institute, wrote Thursday:
Another 1.5 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last week. That includes 860,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 659,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA is the federal program for workers who are not eligible for regular unemployment insurance, like gig workers. It provides up to 39 weeks of benefits, but it is set to expire at the end of this year.
Last week was the 26th week in a row total initial claims were far greater than the worst week of the Great Recession.
Common Dreams
September 22, 2020
The racial wage gap has widened considerably over the last 20 years thanks in part to wage discrimination. A study by the Economic Policy Institute last year found that even Black workers with an advanced degree are paid less than their white counterparts. Controlling for age, gender, education, and region, Black workers are paid 14.9% less than white workers.
Business Insider
September 22, 2020
A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank, estimated that around 6.2 million workers lost access to health insurance they got through their employers as a result of being let go since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. That figure takes into account workers who were originally laid off but have since found new employment.
MarketWatch
September 22, 2020