Media clips

• The Pandemic Is the Perfect Time for a Parents Revolution

  Some—but far from all—parents benefited directly from the CARES Act set-aside of $3.5 billion, says child care expert Elliot Haspel, because many states temporarily waived copays for lower-income families already receiving child care subsidies. (By contrast, Delta Airlines alone received more from CARES than the entire child care industry.) But the Center for Law and Social Policy and the National Women’s Law Center estimate that a true stabilization package for the duration of the pandemic would cost $9.6 billion a month. Even that is a pittance compared with what is needed longer-term. A genuine universal child care system with high-quality care and solid salaries across the board would be more like a $70 billion annual proposition, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others (Haspel and his ilk estimate it will cost much more: One Economic Policy Institute paper puts the cost between $337 billion and $495 billion).

  Slate September 2, 2020
• Trump says jobs are “flowing.” Big employers just cut 50,000 jobs.

  Weekly unemployment claims remain above 1 million, a “historically high” level, according to labor economist Heidi Shierholz of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. And some industries, including travel and entertainment, continue to shed workers as consumers remain wary of traveling as the coronavirus continues to spread in regions of the U.S.

  CBS News September 2, 2020
• New Poll: Half in US Fear Bankruptcy From Major Health Event

  The findings come as the coronavirus crisis continues to spotlight the inequities of the U.S. healthcare system. A national analysis out last month from the Economic Policy Institute, for example, estimated that roughly 12 million people have lost access to employer-sponsored healthcare coverage since February.

  Common Dreams September 2, 2020
• What It’s Like To Lose $600: Real Stories From People Surviving On Unemployment
  According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 12 million people may have lost their employer-sponsored health insurance due to COVID-19. For Corritta, 31, losing health insurance led her to leave the country altogether. She lost her job as an HRIS analyst at the end of July, right after the $600 boost expired. She and her wife had started a family travel site that they had eventually intended to take full-time, until the pandemic hit. Without the extra $600, she now has to cover her family’s expenses with just a third of the income she used to have.
  Refinery29 September 2, 2020
• What the doctor ordered: For pandemic relief, one dose of collective bargaining for every worker

  Those are among the findings of a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. EPI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that conducts economic research and analysis to highlight the needs of low- and middle-income workers in public policy discussions.

  AFSCME Now September 2, 2020
• You Don’t Have to Tell Your Employer About a Serious Diagnosis—But You Still Might Want To

  “Sometimes it’s because they’re just not as easy to replace, or they may have more power in the organization,” she said. “Often those patients also have jobs that can more easily be done remotely.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, higher-wage workers are six times as likely to be able to work from home compared to lower-wage workers.

  GQ Magazine September 2, 2020
• AMC to Reopen 140 Theaters Ahead of ‘Tenet’ Release

  Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist for the Labor Department under President Barack Obama and now a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the change in methodology should make the seasonally adjusted numbers more accurate.

  The New York Times September 2, 2020
• Even With a New Union, California’s Child Care Providers Struggle Amid Pandemic

  In reality, the system is as unaffordable for families as it is underfunded for workers. Because of the strict income guidelines for subsidies, parents in California earning $30,000 a year or more had to pay monthly co-payments of about $100 to $200, according to a 2018 study by the Urban Institute. Overall, the Economic Policy Institute calculates, the annual cost of care for an infant in California is a whopping $16,945 — consuming about a quarter of the median yearly income.

  Truthout September 2, 2020
• EPI Clips: 9/1/20
  September 1, 2020
• $300 unemployment checks coming in September, but may be ‘too little, too late’

  California had one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country for the week of August 8. There are 11 million more unemployed workers than job openings nationwide, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  KTVU-TV August 31, 2020