Some have argued those generous benefits will keep people from seeking new jobs. But extending the $600 unemployment benefit would mean that Americans would have more money to spend in stores, and that could ultimately lead to lower unemployment (link), Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think-tank based in Washington, D.C., said.
“It’s not true that there’s a pool of jobs out there that people would fill if they weren’t receiving unemployment benefits,” she said.
MarketWatch
July 1, 2020
Economists are split over the value of such a break. “Refundable payroll tax credits that are used for PPE or other protections for consumers and workers seems sensible to me,” said Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group.
Herald-Sun
July 1, 2020
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute argued in favor of the bonus unemployment by pointing out “When the economy’s growth is demand-constrained, anything that keeps households from cutting back on spending actually supports growth,” he said. “Cutting off a policy support that helps households maintain spending is a terrible idea, both for these households’ welfare and for macroeconomic stabilization.”
Jewish Voice
July 1, 2020
About 2.2 million people are domestic workers in the United States, many informally employed as cleaners, nannies and home carers, ineligible for jobless benefits or sick pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) think-tank.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News
July 1, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), people of color — which includes Blacks, Latinos, and Asians, account for 43% of all essential workers, even though they make up only 39.1% of the population.
Yahoo Finance
July 1, 2020
Few employers have compensated extra for on-site work amid the health crisis. A recent survey by the Economic Policy Institute found that fewer than a third of people who had to leave their homes to work during the pandemic received additional pay or benefits. As U.S. coronavirus cases persist and some states are even backtracking their reopening plans, workers have flooded social media with calls for hazard pay.
NPR
July 1, 2020
According To Economic Policy Institute, Between 1993 And 2000, NAFTA Was Responsible For 766,030 Jobs Lost In The United States. ( Economic Policy Institute , 04/10/01)
Public
July 1, 2020
And the impact of state and local spending cuts doesn’t stay there; rather, they serve as a major drag on the economy. Because of multiplier effects (i.e., one person’s spending is another person’s salary), the cuts greatly slowed the pace of recovery from the Great Recession. According to economist Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, if state and local government spending “had instead followed the trajectory it established following the recovery from the similarly steep recession of the early 1980s, pre-recession unemployment rates could have been achieved by early 2013 rather than 2017. In short, this austerity delayed recovery by over four years.”
Nonprofit Quarterly
July 1, 2020
Over 42 million people, about a fourth of American workers, have reportedly filed for unemployment in the past two months. A survey from the Economic Policy Institute in April estimated that figure is lower than the true number of Americans out of work, saying that more people could’ve filed if unemployment processes were easier.
CNET
July 1, 2020
But while the outlook is optimistic, the gains are not being enjoyed evenly, said Elise Gould, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, who said white workers are benefiting disproportionately.
“An increase in jobs is a positive sign but a concern that isn’t broadly shared is the Black unemployment rate showed no improvement nationally, it actually increased,” Gould said.
Tucson Sentinel
July 1, 2020