“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
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
People of color are more likely to live in densely populated areas and work frontline jobs—as public transportation operators, grocery store employees and warehouse distribution workers, for example. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, only 16 percent of Hispanic workers and about 20 percent of black workers can telework, compared to 37 percent of Asian and 30 percent of white Americans.
Share Care
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
The Economic Policy Institute graft, below, shows how government policies reduced economic inequality after the Roaring Twenties, but how inequality increased after the 1970s.
Daily Kos
June 1, 2020
Infant child care costs Wisconsin families more than $1,000 a month on average, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Yet early childhood teachers make an average of $10.33 an hourin the state, despite being more educated on average than the typical Wisconsin worker.
Wisconsin Public Radio
June 1, 2020