“This represents a major drop in living standards for millions of Americans, forcing people to survive on far less than they had been earning prior to the pandemic and cut spending on necessities — with negative ripple effects throughout the economy,” writes Thea M. Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning policy think tank.
CNBC
August 3, 2020
And prospects of finding a new job are dim. There are about 14 million more unemployed people than job openings right now, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
August 3, 2020
Alaska is home to many current service members and veterans. According to the Economic Policy Institute, Alaska is home to about 6,500 state and local government workers who are veterans. This accounts for about 10% of the workforce in those sectors.
KTUU-TV
August 3, 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, talking about aid for the pandemic-stricken economy, said last week he hoped to pass “something by the end of the next few weeks.” One issue: the $600-a-week unemployment benefits. Dropping the unemployment benefit to $200 a week, a McConnell proposal, could cost up to 3.4 million jobs over the coming year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Last week saw 1.4 million new unemployment claims, according to the Washington Post.
The Western News
August 3, 2020
“One thing we know in this pandemic is that our unemployment insurance system has been pushed beyond its capacity. We have disinvested in those programs for decades,” said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. “The programs just were sort of set up to fail. They were not able to handle the huge volume of claims that they have to process now because it all came right at once.”
Marketplace
August 3, 2020
Prolonged expiration of unemployment benefits will make a bad situation far worse. The Economic Policy Institute concluded that an expiration of the subsidy would cause more job loss — on top of the jobs already lost — than the entirety of the recessions of the early 1990s and early 2000s.
San Antonio Express-News
August 3, 2020
Tracking public sector job losses, a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows Kentuckians losing government jobs at a rate greater than in any neighboring states. Losses are attributed to declining revenues and disruptions from COVID-19.
WAVE-TV
August 3, 2020
There are many indicators pointing to a difficult period absent more federal aid. Friday’s scheduled sunset of $600 in a weekly unemployment bonus when jobless claims remain high and a decline in consumer spending dampens the economy. Maine stands to lose 12,000 more jobs over a year if federal benefits are cut by $400, according to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Businesses that could benefit from another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans are also being forced to wait.
Bangor Daily News
August 3, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute has noted that there are still 14 million more unemployed workers than there are job openings. “Cutting off the $600 cannot incentivize people to get jobs that aren’t there,” she wrote in a post last month. “It will just cause pain.”
Forbes
August 3, 2020
The average income of the richest 1% in the Jackson metropolitan area is more than $16.1 million (R270 million), while the average income of the remaining 99% is $122,447 (R2 million), according to a 2018 report published by the Economic Policy Institute.
Business Insider
August 3, 2020