More than one in five workers are currently on unemployment benefits or are waiting to get on, according to the Economic Policy Institute, as the U.S. economy continues to be ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, those who are unemployed qualify for their standard state benefit and an additional $600 per week from the federal government. But without action from Congress, that extra weekly benefit expires July 31, even as over 19 million people in the U.S. remain unemployed.
CNBC
June 26, 2020
The bottom line: “We don’t have a word for being in a depressed economy that’s growing,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
Axios
June 25, 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.
At the federal level, the Trump administration has issued guidance for workers and employers in schools and other sectors, outlining standard precautions. But the guidance is largely voluntary, and so far the Trump administration has resisted calls for new regulations.
“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.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
June 25, 2020
“We’ve all being saying it’s July 31st, but it’s not,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
USA Today
June 25, 2020
“It’ll be crucial that that investment is made so that these are actually decent jobs for the people who are holding them,” said Shierholz, now policy director at the Economic Policy Institute.
Politico
June 25, 2020
Para Heidi Shierholz, del Economic Policy Institute, el aumento de seguro por desempleo fue la mejor parte del plan de recuperación por coronavirus aprobado bajo CARES Act tanto “humanitariamente como en fundamentos económicos”.
El Diario
June 25, 2020
Raising the minimum wage during the coronavirus pandemic is smart policy, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Yahoo Finance’s Sibile Marcellus joins Akiko Fujita to discuss.
Yahoo Finance
June 25, 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.
Cronkite News
June 25, 2020