The challenge with virtual or staggered schools as it stands, of course, is that parents cannot both work and provide supervision or learning support. In fact, most cannot be home with their children at all. The Economic Policy Institute reports that “less than 30% of workers can work from home, and the ability to work from home differs enormously by race and ethnicity,” as well as income.
Romper
July 21, 2020
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, said Monday that it “sounds like Senate Republicans want to go cheap (and cruel) on by far the most-important bits of the economic response to Covid—enhanced UI benefits and aid to state/local governments.”
“Hard not see all of this as Republicans in the Senate and administration having given up trying to fix problems and shifting to attempts to hobble the political prospects of the next Congress and administration,” Bivens added. “We deserve a lot better than this.”
Common Dreams
July 21, 2020
And even before next year’s potential budget cuts, many people in public education are already losing their jobs. A report from the Economic Policy Institute highlights that more public education jobs were lost in April than during the Great Recession.
Center for American Progress
July 21, 2020
FactCheck.org
July 21, 2020
Despite the increased risks, however, the majority of essential workers who face greater risks coronavirus exposure are not being compensated at a higher rate. A survey commissioned by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, released last month found that only 30% of people working outside their homes received hazard pay.
CNN Business
July 21, 2020
The gap in benefits could last as long as four weeks if the extra payments expire this month and then are reinstated by Congress, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. It’s unclear whether Congress would include a provision to pay workers retroactively for the missed weeks of pay.
CBS Moneywatch
July 21, 2020
“If you cut off the $600 to incentivize people to go back to work, that will just be cruel, because for millions of people the jobs aren’t there,” says Heidi Shierholz, the former chief economist at the Department of Labor and current director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
Additionally, UI has served as a critical safety net for millions of workers whose jobs have effectively been eliminated in the near term. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, as many as 11.9 million workers have zero chance of returning to their prior jobs as temporary job losses become permanent ones.
VOX
July 21, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 20 percent of the United States’ essential workers are Latino, from custodial to construction and food service. That makes it difficult to quarantine at home.
WFLA-TV (Florida)
July 21, 2020
Many workers going on strike are essential, meaning they have risked contracting the novel coronavirus by continuing to physically go to work. Essential workers are disproportionately Black and Latino, per the Economic Policy Institute — the two communities that have seen the highest rate of COVID-19 cases.
Business Insider
July 21, 2020