24/7 Wall St., a financial website, created an index of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on each state’s economy. The index is based on the number of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 residents; the share of employment lost in industries deemed high risk by Moody’s Analytics; new unemployment claims since mid-March; and projected unemployment rates by state for July 2020 from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank.
Houma Today
May 15, 2020
Rising unemployment is also magnifying labor inequality. Research is finding that people of color, women, people with disabilities, hourly and younger workers are disproportionately being displaced from their jobs. Many of those groups were still recovering from the 2007 Great Recession, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
HR Dive
May 15, 2020
But that would require a more complex calculation by state unemployment insurance agencies — one they might be unwilling or unable to implement. “In a perfect world, I would prefer to give people a percentage of their income,”said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “But we might not be set up to do it.” Many state unemployment insurance agencies are still using decades-old computer systems, for example, presenting potential technical challenges if Congress asked them to change the benefits formula. And Daniel Zeitlin, the director of policy at Washington state’s unemployment office, said that while he didn’t think it was impossible, any change would be difficult for a system already under tremendous stress.
FiveThirtyEight
May 15, 2020
More than 36 million people have reportedly filed for unemployment in the US over the past few months due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. A survey from the Economic Policy Institute published last month estimates that an additional 14 million people would’ve filed if the process were easier.
CNET
May 15, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said the impending crisis of mass unemployment among state and local governments is preventable if the federal government steps in. State and local governments have balanced budget requirements, restrictions the federal government doesn’t have.
“The fact that we’re not doing it now is just unconscionable,” Sheirholz said. “It’s a huge unforced error.”
NJ.com
May 15, 2020
These days, more and more purchases are made online. The Economic Policy Institute has predicted that COVID-19 could potentially eliminate three million jobs from the US economy before the end of summer. Payne understands that times may be tough at the moment, but the community will persevere like it always does.
Salem Times Register
May 15, 2020
That’s because some of the hardest hit sectors of the economy are dominated by women, and particularly Latinas. Hospitality, retail and health care have all seen big job losses that have left Latinas vulnerable, says Elise Gould with the Economic Policy Institute.
“The unemployment rate for Hispanic women sits at 20.2%,” Gould said. “That’s 1 in 5 Hispanic women are now unemployed.”
Marketplace
May 15, 2020
Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute notes: “Many of the jobs that have been lost in this recession are low-wage service, retail sales, and office jobs. Because of things like occupational segregation, discrimination, and other labor market disparities, women and black and Hispanic workers are more concentrated in these jobs and as a result are facing greater job loss.”
Daily Kos
May 15, 2020