“Congress needs to act immediately,” Economic Policy Institute (EPI) director of policy Heidi Shierholz wrote Thursday of the need for an extension of the $600 unemployment benefit. “If they let the extra payments expire and then reinstate them, it will be a needless administrative nightmare for state agencies, and recipients—who will face a lapse in benefits several weeks in most states—will pay the price.”
Common Dreams
July 27, 2020
Employers routinely “threaten, intimidate, and harass workers” to stop them from forming unions, and much of it is perfectly legal, a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute reports.
Next City
July 27, 2020
Many economists, however, point out that there are not enough jobs to go back to. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May there were 3.9 unemployed people per job opening. “Cutting benefits to incentivize people to take jobs that aren’t there is terrible economics, and just cruel,” says Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “It will cause a huge amount of human suffering.” What’s more, she adds, many people aren’t going back to work not because of unemployment checks, but due to the risk of contracting COVID-19, or because of childcare responsibilities while schools, summer camps, and daycares remain closed. “It doesn’t matter how much you cut their benefits; it’s impossible to incentivize them to take a job because they cannot,” she says. “So if you cut their benefits, you’re only hurting them.”
Mother Jones
July 27, 2020
The number of people receiving some kind of unemployment aid remains near highs recorded in June. According to economist Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, 34.3 million workers are either receiving benefits or waiting to learn the results of their applications for assistance.
The Fiscal Times
July 27, 2020
In May and June, 7.5 million Americans returned to work, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Roughly 70 percent of those workers would have made more on unemployment, Shierholz wrote.
Las Cruces Sun News
July 27, 2020
According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), white workers on average routinely bring home a higher hourly wage than their Black and Hispanic counterparts. The pattern holds for most education levels, including those with a college degree. White workers in that group outpace Black workers by more than $7 per hour on average.
Spectrum News
July 27, 2020
However, stating that employees “should” stay home is not the same as telling employers they must provide alternative work arrangements to enable those 65 and older to work from home. And even if an employer lets older employees work from home, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, only 25 percent of those over 65 are able to work remotely.
Stamford Advocate
July 27, 2020
The event comes as 39% of child care providers have closed their doors in Wisconsin by the end of May due to the pandemic, according to a July report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum—and as many as half of all providers in central Wisconsin counties like Portage and Adams. The Economic Policy Institute cites Wisconsin as the 20th most expensive state in the country for child care, at an annual cost per year of more than $12,000–higher than some college tuition.
WSAW FOX 7
July 27, 2020
She’s received about $2,000. That kind of money is a godsend in this pandemic-shocked economy, said Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute, calling it “absolutely essential.”
Marketplace
July 27, 2020