Further, the Economic Policy Institute said, “Right now in the US, there are 14 million more unemployed workers than there are job openings, so millions will remain jobless no matter what they do. You can’t incentivize people to get jobs that aren’t there.”
Business Insider
August 3, 2020
Last week’s unemployment claims in Maine were at 2,600 compared to the 634 applications filed for the week ending March 14, before restrictions on businesses in the state took effect. Maine stands to lose 12,000 more jobs with the lapse of the enhanced unemployment benefits, according to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Bangor Daily News
August 3, 2020
“The spending made possible by the $400 that the Senate wants to cut is supporting 3.4 million jobs,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in a blog post on Thursday. “That $400 cut in benefits is not just cruel, it’s terrible economics.”
Denver Post
August 3, 2020
“Given the precarious state of the economy and heightened risk of incurring out-of-pocket medical expenses, it’s still important to have emergency funds in checking or savings accounts,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the think tank Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg
August 3, 2020
“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