But the Brookings Institution and other groups dispute that, pointing out that workers are not eligible for benefits if they just quit their jobs, except in rare cases. “The extra $600 has been by far the most effective part” of COVID-19 relief efforts and should be extended, says the Economic Policy Institute.
Sacramento News & Review
July 6, 2020
However, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 11.9 million American workers — or 7.2 percent of the total U.S. workforce — are out of work with no hope of being called back to their prior jobs. Another 5.7 million workers, or 3.5 percent of the workforce, are out of work and believe they might get called back but likely will not. In other words, more than 10 percent of the U.S. workforce is unemployed and not expecting to get its old job back.
pymnts.com
July 6, 2020
Speaking to The Hill, Elise Gould, senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute, stated, “Given the likelihood that states may have to re-shutter parts of their economies with the rise in cases, the job gains we saw last month may not last…”
heavy.com
July 6, 2020
If the benefits stayed in place through the middle of 2021, they would “provide an average quarterly boost to gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.7% and employment of 5.1 million workers,” according to a recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute’s Working Economics Blog.
The American Independent
July 6, 2020
At least one survey from the Economic Policy Institute found that millions of Americans gave up trying to seek benefits or didn’t even start the process due to states’ overwhelmed and antiquated unemployment systems.
Associated Press
July 6, 2020
$459: The amount the average teacher spends of their own money for classroom items, per an analysis of data from the past decade by the Economic Policy Institute. The vast majority of this will not be reimbursed.
Romper
July 6, 2020
With more than 3 million Californians out of work, according to the Economic Policy Institute, Chiu said his office has been flooded with an “unprecedented number” of complaints about interactions with the EDD. Wiener echoed this sentiment, and said that his district staff have been spending the “bulk of their time” helping people get benefits.
KTVU-TV
July 6, 2020
Due to persistent classification errors, the jobs report also likely underestimates the true impact of the pandemic on workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, about 7 million unemployed workers are either misclassified as “employed not at work” or considered to have dropped out of the labor force since the outbreak hit. “Altogether, that is 24.5 million workers who are either officially unemployed or otherwise out of work as a result of the virus. If all these workers were taken into account, the unemployment rate would be a whopping 15.0%,” EPI economists Elise Gould and Heidi Shierholz said in a statement Thursday.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
July 6, 2020
Health insurance for twisted historical and political reasons remains tied to jobs. When people lose work, health protection is also gone. Back in mid-May, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that 16.2 million workers had lost employer-provided health insurance. That was before the full extent of job losses would be known.
Forbes
July 6, 2020
Trump’s recent proclamation temporarily bans guestworkers from coming to the United States, but what does it actually do? Daniel Costa of the Economic Policy Institute explains.
Dissent Magazine
July 6, 2020