Workers in the U.S. filed 1.9 million new unemployment claims last week, according to the Department of Labor. An additional 623,000 individuals filed under the temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for those who can’t claim traditional unemployment benefits. In April, when the coronavirus hammered employment in the U.S., job losses for white Americans amounted to 15.5%, while black job losses totaled 17.8%, according to Economic Policy Institute research.
S&P Global
June 5, 2020
“Institutional racism and historical discrimination have meant that Black workers have fared worse in the labor market, even in good times,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the progressive Economic Policy Institute who co-authored a report this week looking at the devastating toll COVID-19 has taken on Black workers.
“When we have a severe economic downturn like we’re having right now, it disproportionately disadvantages Black workers,” she added. “They’re the ones more likely to lose their jobs, but they’re also the ones less able to weather the storm.”
The Huffington Post
June 5, 2020
“With that, today we welcome to this virtual hearing the following witnesses: Mr. Thomas Quaadman, Executive Vice President, U.S. Chamber, Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness; Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum; and Dr. Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy, Economic Policy Institute.
United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
June 5, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, economista del Economic Policy Institute explicaba en un tuit que esta es “la undécima semana seguida en la que las solicitudes de desempleo son más del doble que en la peor semana de la Gran Recesión”.
La Opinion
June 5, 2020
“The more time goes by, summing up initial claims gets a little dicey,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the Economic Policy Institute.
Reuters
June 5, 2020
‘The more time goes by, summing up initial claims gets a little dicey,’ said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy for the Economic Policy Institute.
Daily Mail
June 5, 2020
Elise Gould, senior economist at the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute, said the upswing was likely due to most states lifting stay-at-home orders.
“While these are welcome gains (as long as the health consequences aren’t offsetting), jobs losses since February still total 19.6 million, and are currently 13% below its February level,” she wrote. (Parentheses in original.)
She cautioned that the “economic pain will be long-standing” without further relief to workers, families and state and local governments.
“Even with the mild improvement in May, the unemployment rate of all groups is still higher than the highest level the overall unemployment rate hit at the height of the Great Recession, when it reached 10.0% in 2009,” Gould said.
Courthouse News Service
June 5, 2020
The exact number is likely a little harder to get at. The Economic Policy Institute’s Heidi Shierholz calculated that 37.2 million workers are either actually on unemployment benefits or applied very recently. That figure is based on the number of people DOL reported who are seeking another week of claims (and thus made it through the first round of processing) and also counts workers seeking aid under the temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which includes people not typically eligible for unemployment benefits, like gig workers. “Together, that is close to one in four people in the U.S. workforce,” Shierholz writes.
Politico
June 5, 2020
Current CDC recommendations to decrease the risks of contracting coronavirus are to stay home and practice social distancing. However, not everyone has the privilege to abide by those guidelines. A report by the Economic Policy Institute based on federal labor data shows Black and Hispanic workers are less likely to be able to work from home.
Beyond Type 1
June 5, 2020