An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute last year found that the unemployment rate among white and Black people was closer in South Carolina than many other states. It also showed the unemployment rate among Black residents improved by 8.2 percent from 2007 to 2019.
The Charleston Post and Courier
July 13, 2020
“Unfortunately, more trouble is on the horizon as coronavirus cases continue to rise, states begin to re-shutter, and unemployed workers face further economic devastation when the unemployment insurance enhancements expire on July 25,” Elise Gould, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a blog post. “Without further aid to workers and their families as well as state and local governments, the economic pain will be with us for a very long time.”
Colorado stands to lose more than 66,898 jobs over the coming year if the extra $600 a week that the federal government is providing to unemployed workers and contractors goes away completely, according to an analysis from the EPI.
The Denver Post
July 13, 2020
Last week, United Airlines said it may be forced to furlough as many as 36,000 workers, or about 45 percent of its workforce. According to an estimate from the left-leaning think tank the Economic Policy Institute, up to 17.6 million Americans “probably won’t return” to their pre-crisis jobs.
Fox Business
July 13, 2020
In many states, the percentage of Hispanics contracting the virus has been on the rise. Only 16.2% of Hispanics can work from home – the lowest of any ethnic or racial classification – putting them at greater risk for exposure to the coronavirus, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Albuquerque Journal
July 13, 2020
Nationally, the extra $600 in weekly benefits raised incomes by an annualized $842 billion in May, the Economic Policy Institute recently reported.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 13, 2020
And finding teachers to go into classrooms to help improve our outcomes is becoming increasingly hard. In the words of a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, “the teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought,” as young people are both avoiding and fleeing the profession due to low pay and poor working conditions.
Thomson Reuters Foundation News
July 13, 2020
Keynes famously wrote, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?” But this alibi doesn’t excuse Summers, because he ignored facts that were palpable decades ago. Summers’s recent heresies as a dissenter from the church of corporate market worship seem more cases of political expediency than intellectual conversion. Research by the Economic Policy Institute has been linking union bashing, declining worker power, and income inequality since its founding in 1986. It must be satisfying for EPI’s former president and chief economist Larry Mishel for Summers to admit he was right all along. But that doesn’t make Summers a trustworthy ally.
The American Prospect
July 13, 2020
Showdown coming soon: Dems versus Republicans over extending enhanced unemployment benefits past July 31. Including gig workers and freelancers, another 2.3 million filed for unemployment benefits it was announced last week. So the pressure is on. “Letting the extra $600 expire would be a disaster for (unemployment insurance) recipients, who would have to drastically cut their spending, and for the economy, which is being held afloat by this spending,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
Newsweek
July 13, 2020
So, what does all this have to do with your business? Systemic racism is still doing extreme harm to my community. But not discussed nearly enough is what it’s doing to this country overall. It’s a big factor in income inequality, which is suppressing growth in demand. The nonprofit, nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute warns that “inequality-induced drag on demand translates directly to slower economic growth overall.”
Arkansas Business
July 13, 2020
According to an analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, 10.7 percent of the U.S. workforce has been permanently laid off from their jobs prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of other workers may still return to their jobs but remain furloughed, as several industries still continue to be shut down or are operating at reduced capacity. Depending on the state workers live in, those still relying on unemployment will experience a cut in benefits ranging from 50 to 85 percent.
Failure to extend the CARES Act unemployment benefits could cost 5.1 million jobs in the U.S., according to EPI. Around 24.5 million Americans still remain officially unemployed or out of work due to the coronavirus and rely on those benefits for income. If they have less to spend, that could roll back purchases throughout the country and further depress an already reeling economy.
The American Prospect
July 13, 2020