Media clips

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• Soaring joblessness could shake U.S. economy, politics for years

  “There are massive economic consequences to layoffs,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “You can have a really long-lasting negative impact on earnings.”

  The Washington Post May 11, 2020
• Latinos hardest hit by coronavirus job losses, with a staggering 18.9% unemployed

  Many Latinos have lost jobs as the coronavirus forced businesses to shutter. Just 16 percent of Latinos were in jobs that allowed them to work from home, compared to 31.4 percent of non-Latinos, according to an Economic Policy Institute study released in March, about the time when states were beginning to restrict larger gatherings of people and close nonessential businesses.

  NBC News May 11, 2020
• Tras siete semanas de aislamiento 33.3 millones de trabajadores solicitan el seguro de desempleo

  Heidi Shirholz economista del Economic Policy Institute explicaba en la edición del jueves del Washington Post que todas las recesiones “amplían las desigualdades existentes por raza y etnia, y siempre golpean a los trabajadores negros y latinos a con más dureza, pero esta va a ser peor. Va a ser una pesadilla”.

  El Diario May 11, 2020
• More of Kentucky’s workforce is unemployed than any other state because of COVID-19

  A separate analysis released Friday by the Economic Policy Institute reached a similar conclusion.

  Lexington Herald-Leader May 11, 2020
• Workers without college degree hit hardest by record unemployment

  Average hourly earnings spiked by $1.34 to $30.01, but this shouldn’t be interpreted as a silver lining, warned Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould. “While workers across the economy lost their jobs in April, many of the job losses were concentrated in lower-wage jobs. Therefore, stronger wage growth in April reflects the dropping of lower-wage jobs from the total,” she said.

  NBC News May 11, 2020
• As Job Losses Mount, Lawmakers Face a Make-or-Break Moment

  “There is so much uncertainty about how things will unfold that an arbitrary end date doesn’t make any sense at all right now,” said Heidi Shierholz, a former chief Labor Department economist now at the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “Lawmakers must be willing to provide fiscal support until the unemployment rate is at a manageable level.”

  The New York Times May 11, 2020
• How to find a pandemic-proof job during the coronavirus outbreak if you’ve been laid off or furloughed

  “The industries that are most subject to these sways are lower wage jobs,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

  With so many people out of work, the prospect of finding a good-paying job isn’t straightforward. “It’s not like the safer, more recession-proof jobs pay less,” Gould said. “They’re already the jobs that were in higher demand before all of this happened.”

  MarketWatch May 11, 2020
• Latinos have nation’s highest unemployment rate, and in Connecticut it could be extreme

  According to the Economic Policy Institute and state data, Connecticut’s unemployment rate in the last quarter of 2019 averaged 3.8 percent. For non-Hispanic whites it was 2.7 percent and for the state’s Latinos it was 5.8 percent, putting Connecticut among those with the highest rate of Hispanic unemployment behind Pennsylvania, Arizona and Washington state.

  Nationally, African-American workers had the highest unemployment rate 5.7%, followed by Hispanic workers at 4.1%, white workers (at 3%), and Asian workers (at 2.7%), EPI said.

  The CT Mirror May 11, 2020
• Pandemic inflicts historic U.S. job losses, as states struggle to reopen

  Adding to the pain, millions of Americans who have lost their jobs have been unable to register for unemployment benefits. A survey released last week by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that up to 13.9 million people have been shut out of the unemployment benefits system.

  Reuters May 11, 2020
• Experts predict 20 million layoffs by July

  Nearly 20 million more workers in the U.S. could be laid off or furloughed by midsummer, according to estimates released April 1, 2020, by the Economic Policy Institute. It expects the largest percentages of job losses to occur in Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii.

  Only 71% of unemployed workers receive benefits

  Outdated unemployment insurance systems in some states collapsed from the influx of applicants who lost their job during the pandemic. As a result, only 71% of applicants received benefits by April 11, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  NBC 2 May 11, 2020