Media clips

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• COVID-19 economy: States most likely to be crippled by the virus

  24/7 Wall St. created an index of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on each state’s economy, taking into account the number of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 residents, the share of employment in industries deemed high risk by Moody’s, 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.

  USA Today May 11, 2020
• How COVID-19 is exposing — and widening — cracks in the US health system

  Since college-educated workers are more likely to be able to work remotely than people without a college education, people without degrees risk being exposed to the disease on the job, or are forced to choose between their health and a paycheck in some cases. And because fewer than 1 in 5 black workers and 1 in 6 Hispanic workers are able to work remotely, according to the Economic Policy Institute, on-the-job exposure disproportionately affects people of color.

  ABC News May 11, 2020
• Trump’s base escapes the worst of job losses

  Assistance in developing this methodology was provided by Howard J. Wall, director of the Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise; Harry Holzer, a professor of economics and public policy at Georgetown University; Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation; and Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Politico May 11, 2020
• U.S. JOB LOSSES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS LIKELY TO SET COUNTRY ‘BACK TWO DECADES,’ ECONOMIC ANALYSIS SHOWS

  Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, published an analysis of the latest economic data in a Thursday blog post, a day before the Department of Labor’s release of the much anticipated April jobs report.

  Newsweek May 11, 2020
• Nevada, Hawaii are among the states most likely to feel the economic hit by COVID-19

  24/7 Wall St. created an index of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on each state’s economy, taking into account the number of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 residents, the share of employment in industries deemed high risk by Moody’s, 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.

  As is the case with its neighbor to the south, Virginia, Maryland’s economy is not especially exposed to slowdown in the wake of COVID-19. A relatively small share of workers in the state, 15.7%, are employed in industries that are projected to bear the brunt of the economic fallout. According to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, Maryland’s unemployment rate in July will be just 13.9%, the lowest of any state according to projections.

  Methodology

  To determine the states most likely to be hurt by COVID-19, 24/7 Wall St. created a weighted index of four measures. The first measure, which comprises 30% of the index, is the share of total employment in industries deemed to be at high-risk of slowdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. The second measure, which comprises 20% of the index, is the number of diagnosed cases per capita as of April 27 2020. The third measure, which comprises 30% of the index, is the number of new unemployment claims made since the week ending March 21 as a share of the 2018 state labor force, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The fourth measure, which comprises 20% of the index, is the projected unemployment rate by state for July 2020 from a report published on April 1 by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank.

  USA Today May 8, 2020
• Economists Break Down U.S. Unemployment Numbers

  What do the latest unemployment rates mean for the U.S. economy? NPR’s Noel King speaks with Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute and Claudia Goldin of Harvard University.

  NPR May 8, 2020
• US unemployment spikes to a Depression-era level of 14.7%

  Counting them as unemployed would push the rate up further, to 24%, according to calculations by Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Associated Press May 8, 2020
• The Government Is Ready to Reopen. Its Citizens Aren’t, Polls Show.

  Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute used a nonscientific survey to estimate that in addition to those already on the unemployment rolls, eight to 12 million people could have applied for joblessness benefits since the start of the pandemic but did not. Most of those people, the study determined, reported that they had sought to file for unemployment but had been unable to make it through the application; others simply did not make an attempt.

  The implications of such staggering job losses carry over into other facets of life, including health care access and food security. According to a separate analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, as of last week nearly 13 million people had lost access to employer-provided health care.

  The New York Times May 8, 2020
• Essential, and No Longer Disposable

  Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told me that the spotlight on these essential industries has only crystallized what the long-term labor-market projections have already made clear: Relying solely on improving skills to improve living standards is a flawed strategy because forecasts show that the share of jobs requiring advanced education won’t be much larger in the future than it is now.

  The Atlantic May 8, 2020
• What Systemic Changes Are Needed Now That Millions In The US Are Newly Uninsured?

  Almost 13 million people have lost their health insurance after losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Advocates say the majority of people can’t afford insurance alternatives. What options are available and what systemic changes are needed?

  KALW May 8, 2020