Economists said those ongoing cuts could impede a broader recovery, even as the private sector adds jobs. “State and local governments are hemorrhaging red ink, and it’s coast to coast, it’s politically ecumenical. Every state and municipality is struggling and responding by slashing payrolls,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, who spoke in late August at an Economic Policy Institute panel discussion. “There’s no more effective way to help the economy and to help these states and support these jobs than providing federal government aid to state and local governments.”
SHRM
September 21, 2020
Even during the economic recovery of recent years, minority groups were lagging behind, says [Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy] Economic Policy Institute. “There were significant racial disparities in wages, significant racial disparities in unemployment, significant racial disparities in the kinds of jobs people held.”
Black, Latino and Native American workers were more likely to have jobs that were lost during the pandemic, Wilson says. A Harvard University analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Pulse Survey, released in July, found that 58% of Latino and 53% of Black households experienced loss in earnings early in the pandemic. Wilson’s own research has shown that Latino workers have been particularly affected by job losses during the pandemic.
Daily Kos
September 21, 2020
President Trump showing signs of compromise with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? If so, that’s a good thing. Another 860,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. It was “the 26th week in a row total initial claims were far greater than the worst week of the Great Recession,” pointed out Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute.
Newsweek
September 21, 2020
Domestic workers make $12.01 an hour on average and are three times as likely to live below the poverty line compared with other hourly workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Most lack benefits like sick leave and health insurance and often work without even a formal employment contract.
CBS Moneywatch
September 21, 2020
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that up to 12 million Americans may have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during the pandemic. And almost half of the 16.9 million jobs in the U.S. hospitality sector were lost in March and April. As of September, more than a quarter of workers in that sector remain unemployed.
Chicago Sun Times
September 21, 2020
De no haber estado en marcha esos programas, los efectos del shock económico causado por la pandemia habría sido un incremento en la pobreza de 13.2 millones de personas para llegar a una cifra total de 42.5 millones, calculan los economistas del Economic Policy Institute.
El Diario
September 21, 2020
Lawrence Mishel, a labor market economist at the Economic Policy Institute, noted that “10 years ago, teachers were being vilified — they were put on the cover of magazines as being lazy.” Now, as teachers serve on the front lines of the pandemic, “there is a better appreciation that teachers. They’re heroes. And they’re underpaid and overworked, and they face tremendous challenges and none more than during the pandemic.”
Yahoo Finance
September 21, 2020
Households of color were still trying to regain ground from the last financial crisis before the coronavirus pandemic came along. Income for Black households didn’t surpass 2007 levels until 2019, according to new Census Bureau data on income and poverty.
“But that’s already old news,” said Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy, during a presentation this week. “The impact of the pandemic and the recession has had a disproportionate impact on Black workers and their families,” Wilson explained.
Forbes
September 21, 2020
Patients across the world are now suffering from economic hardship. The World Bank predicts the global economy will shrink by 5.2% this year, and that the U.S. economy will contract by 6.1%. Moreover, up to 12 million Americans may have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during the pandemic, according to the Economic Policy Institute, adding to people’s financial stress.
The Cancer Letter
September 21, 2020