According to a study published last year by the Economic Policy Institute, Massachusetts has the second highest childcare costs in the country, slightly better than Washington, D.C. The average monthly cost in the state was $1,743 for infant care and $1,258 for prekindergarten.
BU Today
July 27, 2020
As layoffs continue, some economists fear that reduced payments won’t be enough to help struggling Americans as more states halt re-openings and businesses shutter. In May and June, 7.5 million unemployed Americans went back to work, and roughly 70% of that group would have made more drawing unemployment, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“Concerns about the work disincentive simply ignore the realities of the labor market for working people, who will be very unlikely to turn down a job for a temporary boost in benefits, particularly when it is now clear that jobs are going to be scarce for a very long time,’’ Shierholz said in a blog post.
“Cutting off the $600 cannot incentivize people to get jobs that aren’t there.’’
Press Connects
July 27, 2020
Others argue that there are more unemployed workers than job openings, as senior economist Heidi Shierholz wrote in a blog post for the Economic Policy Institute, or that people aren’t returning to work because it’s not safe for them or their families.
“Cutting off the $600 cannot incentivize them to get jobs; it will just cause pain,” Shierholz wrote.
ABC News
July 27, 2020
And in a third study, the Economic Policy Institute says that cutting off the $600 weekly payment would be devastating for families. The money accounted for 15% of total wages and salaries in May, compared to the previous high of 2.5% in 2010 during the Great Recession.
Ending the payments would also damage the broader economy because that cash is being spent and keeping other employees from being laid off, the report says. Extending the payments through mid-2021 would boost the GDP by 3.7% and support 5.1 million workers, according to the study.
In a new analysis, EPI says that reducing the extra benefit to $200, as Senate Republicans are proposing, would cost 3.4 million jobs over the next year, including 557,428 in California.
Sacramento News & Review
July 26, 2020
Some groups, like the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute and Policy Matters Ohio, have called on federal lawmakers to extend the enhanced jobless benefits.
EPI estimates that about 129,600 jobs in Ohio would be lost in the next year if the supplemental benefits are allowed to expire.
Dayton Daily News
July 26, 2020
Finally, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that the spending boost from recipients using the benefits would translate into 5.1 million jobs saved.
The News-Herald
July 26, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute calculates that ending the $600 a week benefit would reduce employment in Maine by more than 18,000 jobs. Extending the benefit for a year would increase Maine’s overall personal income by more than $3 billion, the institute calculated.
Bangor Daily News
July 26, 2020
Analysis from the Economic Policy Institute outlines the need to center Black women – who despite facing multiple layers of discrimination – are key to an equitable economic recovery for everyone. Yet, our risk frameworks don’t account for the realities that Black women (and similarly, Brown and Indigenous women) face when navigating the economy. Yet we expect them to get the same and often better results from investments that don’t take their needs into consideration.
Stanford Social Innovation Review
July 26, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist of the Department of Labor, tweeted that as the coronavirus crisis drags on, more than 17 million people are expected to switch to PEUC.
The Penny Hoarder
July 26, 2020
24/7 Wall St. used data from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator to identify the most expensive place in every state. We ranked counties based on the estimated monthly cost for a single adult to maintain a modest yet adequate standard of living.
24/7 Wall Street
July 26, 2020