The Economic Policy Institute estimates 5.3 million jobs will be lost without state and local funding. President Trump and the Republicans do not want another massive increase in job loss, so the Democrats are in a strong position to make this demand.
The decrease in unemployment benefits should be another unacceptable “red line” as this will further shrink the economy. The Economic Policy Institute finds the loss of the extra $600 of unemployment benefits, which people are currently spending on basic needs, will result in the loss of an additional 3.4 million jobs.
LA Progressive
August 4, 2020
In June, the progressive Economic Policy Institute projected that the $600 weekly unemployment benefit, if it were to be extended by Congress until July 2021, would increase national GDP by 3.7 percent, support 5,083,197 jobs, and distribute $508.6 billion in income to unemployed workers.
For the same period in Maine, EPI projected the expanded weekly benefit would grow the state’s GDP by 6.8 percent, support 18,025 jobs, and pay out nearly $3.05 billion in personal income.
Maine Beacon
August 4, 2020
In practice, though, companies have ample discretion in setting this level, and often find loopholes, such as hiring through outsourcing firms. A recent paper by Hira and Daniel Costa for the Economic Policy Institute concludes that companies in the D.C. metro area got a 36% discount from the median wage level for the most common certified H-1B occupation (a category of software developers) in the wage bracket for entry-level positions, a difference of $41,746 per employee in fiscal 2019.
Bloomberg Quint
August 4, 2020
By the Economic Policy Institute’s count, the $600 UI benefit also helped the economy retain roughly 5 million jobs.
Although fiscal conservatives worry the unemployment bonus disincentives workers from returning to work, many economists point that the benefits of feeding the economy through the crisis outweigh the negatives.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveyed 4.8 million people who returned to work in June, bringing the unemployment rate below 12%. Despite the gains, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute Heidi Shierholz estimated there remain 14 million more unemployed people than available jobs.
Courthouse News
August 4, 2020
“Aside from the reckless and unconscionable delay, the HEALS Act fails miserably on two crucial objectives: supporting the people most harmed by the coronavirus recession and ensuring a robust economic recovery,” Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said in a Tuesday statement.
Newsweek
August 4, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute’s Director of Research Josh Bivens said an “utterly enormous scale of recovery” was needed to return to U.S. economy to a healthy position.
“To put it simply, it could take years of historically fast GDP growth just to return the economy to the pre-COVID-19 status quo,” he added in a statement.
Newsweek
August 4, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, people of color also make up the majority of essential workers in several sectors, including food, agriculture, and industrial.
Orlando Sentinel
August 4, 2020
In May, there were four unemployed workers per job opening, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are currently about 14 million more unemployed workers than jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
August 4, 2020
This finding is corroborated by a series of other studies. For example, a 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute found executive pay had grown by 997 percent between 1978 and 2014, while the average compensation for a private-sector production and nonsupervisory worker increased by just 10.9 percent.
Counterpunch
August 4, 2020