With Tor working a steady 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. shift as a restaurant supervisor Monday through Thursday, Bree handles the pickups after she gets off work at 5:10, getting Gabby first. Bree then rushes across town to collect her older children at their school after-care before 6:00 or she’ll be charged a $1-perminute late fee—something Bree can’t risk, considering that her family already spends a whopping 55 percent of their monthly household income on child care. Altogether, the pickups take 45 minutes, and Bree doesn’t get home with her kids until 6:30, so dinner and bedtime are later than she’d like. Bree handles some evenings with the kids alone, while Tor works a second nighttime shift. She sums up their life in one word: chaotic. “As I’m running around, trying to be where I need to be, it’s anxiety-inducing. I don’t ever allow myself to stop and think about it all,” says Bree. “Otherwise, I’d be paralyzed by fear.” Unfortunately, the weekend doesn’t offer any respite from the juggle. Since Tor’s home, Bree picks up additional shifts at her old job, clocking in some Friday nights and most Sundays at McDonald’s. In total, Bree pays $768 a month in child care, compared with her monthly rent of $650—a situation that reflects a national trend: Child care for two children now costs more than rent in most parts of the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. Says Bree, “I usually finish out the month with 60 bucks left over, if I’m lucky.”
Parents Magazine
June 1, 2020
“There’s going to be pent up demand when the economy reopens. People have less of a debt overhang right now and the stock market is already rebounding,” says Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “All of that would lead me to believe people will start spending again.”
Money
June 1, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute reports that “state and local governments are currently forecast to be facing revenue shortfalls as large as $1 trillion over the coming years. If no help is forthcoming from the federal government to close these shortfalls, the result will be an economic disaster — one that is not confined to these governments. (epi.org, May 19)
“Besides the obvious loss of valuable public services, cuts of this size would quickly ripple out from the public sector and destroy private-sector jobs.” (epi.org, May 19)
Mundo Obrero Workers World
June 1, 2020
“First responders would fit that—they have some sort of schedule but then they end up having to stay because of some extended emergency,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg
June 1, 2020
Since March 7, when COVID-19-related job losses began being reported in Washington, 397,845 coronavirus-related claims were filed and 345,804 coronavirus emergency unemployment claims were filed, according to ESD data. The numbers, including the potentially fraudulent claims, total more than double the number predicted by the Economic Policy Institute in early March.
The EPI projected that more than 300,000 Washingtonians could lose their jobs by June due to economic impacts created by Gov. Jay Inslee’s executive order closing businesses he deemed nonessential.
The Center Square
June 1, 2020
OSHA has faced criticism during the pandemic for not being more responsive to worker concerns. That may drive health care workers to take other legal routes when facing retaliation, says Terri Gerstein, a labor attorney who directs the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. Gerstein is also a senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute.
“It’s so important that employers understand that when people raise these kinds of safety concerns, it’s not an adversarial thing,” she says. “They are trying to make their workplace safer and stem the spread of this horrible disease.”
NPR
June 1, 2020
“The unemployment situation is going to get worse before it gets better, and unemployment benefits applications will continue to flood in.” —Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute
Common Dreams
June 1, 2020
One of the most commonly cited statistics about savings is the Federal Reserve’s annual survey looking at how many Americans can cover an unexpected $400 expense with cash or savings. In 2018, 39 percent of those surveyed didn’t even have that modest sum handy — a decline from 50 percent in 2013. Hence, individuals drawing down their 401(k)s. “People don’t plan around a steep decline in income,” says Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank in Washington.
Governing
June 1, 2020
As governor, Mr. Walker decimated funding for public schools and colleges, cut health care, and tried to destroy unions in favor of big tax cuts for the rich and corporations. An Economic Policy Institute study found that states like Wisconsin that followed this strategy delayed their recovery from the Great Recession by four years.
The New York Times
June 1, 2020
A report in early May from the Economic Policy Institute found that 60% of H-1B positions are paid lower than the local median wage for that job. Top users are Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, Google, Apple and Facebook, EPI said.
The Washington Times
June 1, 2020