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
June 26, 2020
This legislation is supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including: AFL-CIO, Main Street Alliance, National Employment Law Project, Economic Policy Institute, National Women’s Law Center, Common Defense, Center for American Progress, American Sustainable Business Council, MomsRising, Communication Workers of America, United Steelworkers, and American Federation of Teachers.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin
June 26, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens wrote in a blog post this month that the Fed’s actions during this crisis came “mostly at the expense of financial predators,” citing Carnival Corp.’s huge bond sale earlier this year as an example:
Bloomberg
June 26, 2020
These are also relatively good-paying jobs for Black workers since they face less wage discrimination in the public sector than in the private sector. An analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that Black workers’ earnings amounted to only 87.1% of white workers’ earnings in the private sector, when controlling for age, education and other factors. By contrast, in the public sector, Black workers earned 97.8% as much as their white counterparts.
Counterpunch
June 26, 2020
“In case the administration hasn’t noticed, the immigration system is already shut down, almost entirely, as a result of the pandemic,” said Daniel Costa, an attorney with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
“Considering the number of new coronavirus infections continues to increase rapidly in the United States and abroad, it’s difficult to imagine the immigration system opening back up anytime soon,” Costa wrote in an analysis published Tuesday.
“Would any of the banned visas have been issued in these programs before the end of the year absent this proclamation? I’m not convinced they would have.”
Voice of America
June 26, 2020
“A huge share of jobless people will be forced to exist on much less than what they had before,” says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Shierholz, however, says, “The answer is not to back off the $600 but to make work more attractive,” perhaps by letting recipients continue to receive some of the benefits even when they go back to work. Goldman Sachs believes Congress ultimately will extend the payment but at $300 a week.
USA Today
June 26, 2020
Valerie Rawlston Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, said schools need standards in place for teachers, staff and student safety.
“I don’t know that parents will feel very confident in sending their students back to school if they don’t have consistent enforceable standards,” Wilson said.
Patch
June 26, 2020
The job market is “not really improving,” said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. “I do think that people are getting hired back, but we are continuing to see an absolute hemorrhaging of jobs,” Shierholz told The Washington Post. “Just record levels of people.”
The Fiscal Times
June 26, 2020
New reports from the Economic Policy Institute suggest that Black Americans are not only experiencing additional risk factors on their health, there’s also inequality in the job market.
Black Americans are reportedly least likely to be able to continue to work from the safety of their home, and are disproportionately found among the essential workers of today’s economy — meaning they continue to go into their workplace to help and service others.
According to the report, Black Americans make up 1 in 9 workers in the overall general population. However, in the frontline industries, they make up 1 in 6 workers. This means increased exposure to COVID-19.
Healthline
June 26, 2020