Wilson is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; Gloucester Institute Emerging Leader; a Scholar with The Institute for Responsible Citizenship; and the Greer Dawson Student Leadership Training Program. He is planning to spend the summer interning with the Economic Policy Institute, writing and researching on the racial wealth gap and economic inequality.
HBCU Buzz
July 9, 2020
“With health insurance in particular we have a social support system that really isn’t very functional when you have job loss,” Ben Zipperer, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., told Bloomberg News. That’s a problem in the best of times, he said, adding, “It’s a real disaster when you have tens of millions of workers suddenly lose their jobs.”
KPC News
July 9, 2020
In 2016, the Economic Policy Institute published the Income Inequality in the U.S. by State, Metropolitan Area, and Country Report. This exposed Grand Rapids as the city within the state of Michigan with the largest gap between rich and poor. These findings were also never published or reported by any West Michigan media outlets.
Rapid Growth Media
July 9, 2020
“A community that you might not expect to be hit are the people who aren’t even on [unemployment insurance], but will just lose their jobs, because the spending that those UI recipients did was on goods and services that those people provided,” said Heidi Shierholz, a former DOL economist now with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Politico
July 9, 2020
Only 1 in 10 workers in America are part of a union. And for many people, having one would make it a lot easier to advocate for better pay and protections during this pandemic. But worker power has slowly been dismantled by employers and politicians over the years. [Larry is in interview]
KQED
July 9, 2020
“There is no area in the country with zero risks and many areas where there’s escalating risks,” said Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
According to a recent study commissioned by EPI, just 30% of people working outside of their homes were receiving some form of hazard pay, while 50% were concerned about bringing the virus back from those jobs. An estimated 40.6% of Black workers reported receiving hazard pay, followed by 33.5% of Hispanic workers and 26.8% of White workers.
July 9, 2020
According to Valerie Wilson from the Economic Policy Institute, in 2018, a median Black worker only earned about 75% of what a White person does ($14.92 per hour to $19.79), and the Economist reported that in 2019 mean household wealth was $138,000 for Blacks, and $933,700 for Whites. While more than 72% of Whites own homes usually in nice neighborhoods, only 42% of Blacks do usually in shabbier environments. Unemployment rates are typically twice that of Whites.
Counter Punch
July 9, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute estimated in May that since the coronavirus pandemic began in the U.S., 16.2 million Americans have lost the health coverage they had access to through their employers, as the unemployment crisis caused by the public health emergency has left more than 32 million without work. EPI and others have recommended since the pandemic began that Medicare and Medicaid be expanded to cope with the economic effects.
Common Dreams
July 9, 2020
Meanwhile, here in early July, the coronavirus pandemic is still setting national caseload records, and weekly unemployment claim totals have over the last 15 consecutive weeks run more than twice as high, the Economic Policy Institute reports, as the worst jobless claim week of the Great Recession.
Counter Punch
July 9, 2020
Best personal finance tip in this recession? Say “Good bye, Amazon” and “Hello, Vanguard.”
Bloomberg
July 9, 2020