“The Economic Policy Institute earlier this week estimated that the current claims level probably undercounts by as much as 12 million those who are eligible for benefits but not getting them due to the inability to file or other roadblocks,” CNBC reported last month.
The Daily Wire
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
With more than 15 million Americans out of work, the nation’s overall unemployment could hit nearly 16 percent by July, according to estimates released by the Economic Policy Institute. That rate would be greater than any other jobless figures recorded since the 1930s.
The Center Square
May 15, 2020
With more than 15 million Americans out of work, the nation’s overall unemployment could hit nearly 16 percent by July, according to estimates released by the Economic Policy Institute. That rate would be greater than any other jobless figures recorded since the 1930s.
The Center Square
May 15, 2020
Brad is first joined by Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. Heidi leads EPI’s policy team, which monitors wage and employment policies coming out of Congress and the administration and advances a worker-first policy agenda.
Brad and Heidi discuss how nearly one in five workers applied for state unemployment insurance benefits in the last seven weeks, which is nearly five times the worst seven-week stretch of the Great Recession. They also talk about what type of economic relief package that the government should be working on to help the American people who are financially struggling thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why the relief should not include any arbitrary end dates.
iHeart Radio
May 14, 2020
The increase in earnings is due to the economy shedding mostly low-income jobs, which shifted the average earnings higher and created the semblance of a pay rise, says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“The strong wage growth data in April reflects the dropping off of low-wage jobs from the total which results in higher average wages,” Gould told Karma. “So it appears there is faster wage growth, but it’s not actually driven by people getting meaningful wage growth.“
“The inequality has been magnified by this pandemic,” says Gould, who focuses on matters such as economic mobility, adding that high-earning workers have seen the most gains. “There has been some growth in the middle, but it has been slow. So workers and their families are still living paycheck-to-paycheck and these devastating economic losses from COVID-19 have meant real economic pain for many people.”
Policymakers could support U.S. workers by strengthening labor laws, says Gould.
“We have let the value of the minimum wage erode,” she said. “Employers have been allowed to oppose the formation of unions and that has led to reduced bargaining power for workers to see meaningful wage increases and better working conditions.”
Karma Impact
May 14, 2020
“Today’s weekly [unemployment] claims numbers show that things have further deteriorated—drastically—since mid-April,” Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said.
CBS News
May 14, 2020
Another factor that may contribute to differences across counties and states in the prevalence of these claims is the responsiveness of their UI systems. Research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that for every 10 people who successfully filed for UI benefits between mid-March and mid-April, at least three more tried but couldn’t get through. Some states have purposely made it more burdensome for people to apply for UI benefits, while others have simply failed to update or upgrade computer systems that handle such applications.
Brookings Institution
May 14, 2020