Media clips

• ‘NO ONE WILL HELP, NO ONE WILL LISTEN’: WORKERS IMPACTED BY COVID-19 OUTBREAK DESCRIBE STRUGGLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  A survey conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found from March 22 to April 18 between 7.8 million to 12.2 million Americans could not apply for unemployment benefits because they could not get through the system to do so or were discouraged by difficulties

  Shadow Proof May 27, 2020
• Sheltering Americans Give Record Chill to Tourism This Summer

  Young European workers, who have staffed many U.S. resorts, are staying home. Visa processing for U.S. work and travel visas at consulates abroad has basically shut down everywhere, except for farmworkers, according to Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research for the Economic Policy Institute.

  Bloomberg May 27, 2020
• Over 25 million Americans are collecting unemployment

  What they’re saying: “We don’t know how many people have fallen off unemployment because they got rehired,” Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, tells Axios.

  • But continued claims show that “on net we’re still seeing a deterioration” in the labor market, Shierholz says.
  Axios May 27, 2020
• Another 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week
  In normal times, the seasonal adjustments help smooth out the data and provide a clearer picture. But in a crisis such as this one, adjustments can distort what’s really going on, said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
  CNN May 27, 2020
• A Disproportionate Number of Black Business Owners Are Out of Work Amid the Pandemic

  Any assistance eventually provided by the government will inevitably be short term. One of the biggest questions remaining is not just how these businesses are going to recover—if they will at all. Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, told The Washington Post: “All recessions exacerbate existing inequalities by race and ethnicity — and always hit black and Hispanic workers harder — but this one will be worse. It will be an absolute nightmare.”

  Roots May 27, 2020
• A second stimulus check for $1,200? Here’s the status on another round of payments

  What proponents of the Heroes Act say: Since the middle of March, more than 38 million US workers who have lost their jobs have filed for unemployment. The actual number of those unemployed could be millions higher, according to the Economic Policy Institute, because many people who are eligible were unable to file a jobless claim. With the job losses, the nation’s unemployment rate reached 17.2% (PDF), according to the US Department of Labor. Newly unemployed people, along with others taking an economic hit from the pandemic, would benefit from having more money to spend right now.

  CNET May 27, 2020
• Two-thirds of laid-off workers may temporarily be receiving more money in unemployment benefits than they did from their jobs

  The CARES Act authorized extra payments, but observers say that, between the bureaucracy and the deluge in claims, the money might not be getting into the pockets of all eligible workers. Only 37 out of every 100 eligible workers have successfully made it through the unemployment application process, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  MarketWatch May 27, 2020
• A Whistleblowing Visionary Offers a Ticket to Our Future—If We Take It

  As far as the pandemic goes, the Voice Vote could easily have been replaced by proxy voting or electronic voting if Pelosi cared at all about San Francisco’s working class, women, and people of color. But she doesn’t. She proved it again with the recent interim stimulus bill, which according to the Economic Policy Institute once again left out any meaningful protection for workers.

  Common Dreams May 27, 2020
• For Families Already Stretched to the Limit, the Pandemic Is a Disaster

  For black Americans, whose unemployment rate was double that of white Americans before the pandemic, ­Covid-19 is particularly disastrous. While white unemployment has risen to 14.2 percent, black unemployment has grown to 16.7 percent, according to April data from the Bureau for Labor Statistics, and experts think the black unemployment rate is most likely severely undercounted. Heidi Shierholz, policy director of the Economic Policy Institute who served as the chief economist to the labor secretary under President Barack Obama, told The Washington Post that she expected unemployment among black people to soar to an almost incomprehensible 30 percent, the worst of all racial groups. ‘‘It will be an absolute nightmare,’’ she said.

  The New York Times May 27, 2020
• Why economy is going to reach a ‘Wile E. Coyote moment’: Economist

  Economic Policy Institute Senior Economist Robert Scott joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss the his outlook on the economy as states slowly begin to reopen.

  Yahoo Finance May 27, 2020