Media clips

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• 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
• Even as Iowa reopens, unemployment claims continue to reach record levels

  Lydia Boussour, senior U.S. economist for Oxford Economics, expects the report to show even more job losses: 28 million. She cites an Economic Policy Institute analysis noting that as many as 14 million Americans couldn’t file jobless claims because of swamped phone and computer systems.

  The Hawk Eye 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
• As Hospitals Lose Revenue, More Than A Million Health Care Workers Lose Jobs

  The Economic Policy Institute estimates that nearly 13 million Americans have likely lost their employer-sponsored health insurance so far.

  NPR 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
• 3.2 million people filed for unemployment last week, bringing 7-week total to at least 33 million

  While initial unemployment claims are usually a good indicator of immediate economic health, recent surveys suggest that these figures are actually underestimating the true impact of the pandemic. A recent survey from the Economic Policy Institute indicates that millions of Americans gave up filing for assistance or haven’t even tried because they knew systems would be overloaded.

  ABC 15 May 8, 2020
• Direct Relief Demanded for Hard-Hit US Families as Depression-Level Unemployment Tops 33 Million

  According to the department, the unemployment rate in the U.S. is now 15.5%, but some economists, including Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), say that 20% of workers may actually be out of a job, with possibly 20% of workers out of a job but yet to file for unemployment.

  “If all the workers who filed for unemployment insurance up to and including the reference week (April 12-18 in the claims data) were counted in the measured unemployment numbers, the unemployment rate could hit 18% in the latest jobs day release,” wrote Gould, a senior economist at EPI.

  “Of course,” she added, “this fails to count the workers who were unable to file or lost their jobs and were ineligible for unemployment insurance. The CARES Act provisions that greatly expanded eligibility for unemployment insurance were only operational in most states in the last couple of weeks. Taken together, this could suggest an unemployment rate in excess of 20%, levels last seen in the Great Depression.”

  Many workers who stop working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic may never be counted as unemployed, wrote Gould’s colleague, EPI policy director Heidi Shierholz.

  These workers “will be counted as dropping out of the labor force instead of as unemployed because they are unable to search for work due to the lockdown, or because they are not available to work because they are, for example, caring for children whose school has closed,” Shierholz wrote. 

  Common Dreams May 8, 2020
• Even as unemployment claims recede from peak, another quarter million Texans apply

  A survey by the Economic Policy Institute found that for every 100 workers who filed for unemployment insurance, 37 additional workers tried to apply but could not connect with the unemployment benefits system to make a claim.

  Houston Chronicle May 8, 2020