Media clips

---

• NEARLY 3 MILLION U.S. WORKERS FILED UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS LAST WEEK

  “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
• 3 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, bringing 8-week total to 36 million

  Initial unemployment filings are usually seen as a reliable indicator of how many Americans have lost their jobs in the past week. However, a survey with the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the figures may be underrepresenting the number of job losses, as frustrated Americans have given up trying to apply with government offices bogged down with requests.

  WTKR 3 News May 14, 2020
• What weekly unemployment claims reveal about the local impacts of the COVID-19 recession

  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
• Latinas among those hit hardest by COVID-19 job losses

  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 14, 2020
• How the Coronavirus is Killing the Middle Class

  “This is worse and weirder than anything I’ve ever seen,” Heidi Shierholz, a director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, said. Shierholz served as the chief economist at the Department of Labor from 2014 to 2017 and dealt firsthand with the slow recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. “We know how to wrap our brains around the bursting of an asset bubble of seven trillion dollars in the housing market, or the end of the dot-com boom,” she said. “But we don’t have practice in dealing with the fallout from this pandemic.” We are beginning to see who will be most affected by the economic downturn. Women are losing jobs at a higher rate, because there are more of them in the service sectors most affected by the virus. The crisis has also been increasing racial economic disparities: black and Latino workers are more likely to work service-industry jobs—in restaurants, bars, hotels—and that sector was the first to shut down, and the least likely to fully reopen in the near term. “We always see this during recessions, but this one is likely to be worse,” Shierholz told me.

  The New Yorker May 14, 2020
• May 14
  May 14, 2020
• Adam Schleifer Unveils Progressive Tax Policy To Boost NY-17

  Schleifer’s plan would repeal the Trump tax breaks that unfairly benefit the wealthiest of Americans, restore tax rates to their prior levels, and create two new tax brackets for high-income earners. These brackets would include a 40 percent marginal tax rate on those making over $1 million in a year and a 42 percent marginal rate on Americans making over $2 million in a year. Schleifer notes that Americans do not feel that they have benefited from Trump tax cuts generally. A recent poll found only about 40 percent of Americans approved of the cut while 49 percent disapproved. Unsurprisingly, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that the bill increased the average worker’s wages by only about 2 cents per hour.

  Patch May 14, 2020
• Biden Must Let a More Progressive Democratic Party Emerge

  The same goes for a task force on the economy cochaired by Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, who is an essential advocate for labor rights, and Representative Karen Bass, the Congressional Black Caucus chair and Congressional Progressive Caucus member whose name has appeared on lists of vice presidential prospects. The committee’s potential is enhanced by Jared Bernstein, an Economic Policy Institute veteran who served as deputy chief economist for the Department of Labor under Labor Secretary Robert Reich and as Vice President Biden’s chief economist and economic policy adviser, and by Stony Brook University economics professor Stephanie Kelton, an adviser to the 2016 Sanders campaign who served as chief economist for the Democratic minority staff of the Senate Budget Committee and is a savvy critic of austerity.

  The Nation May 14, 2020
• Lost health insurance? COBRA’s an option, but it isn’t cheap

  The Economic Policy Institute recently estimated that nearly 13 million laid-off workers have lost their employer-provided health insurance.

  Marketplace May 14, 2020
• Coronavirus fallout hits tech employment, job losses mount

  The jobs report reflected the week of April 12 and since then there’s been millions of job losses, said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, in an interview with CIO Dive.

  While the unemployment rate hit almost 15% in April, data from unemployment claims suggests it could reach 20%, Gould said.

  But April marks the likely peak of monthly job losses. While Gould “would be surprised” if other months reached April numbers, losing another 5 million to 10 million jobs is significant.

  For example professional business services, including lawyers and accountants, support other sectors. If demand drops off, job losses could impact those job roles, according to Gould.

  CIO Dive May 14, 2020