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.
Axios
May 22, 2020
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 Business
May 22, 2020
What’s more, state unemployment systems have been completely overwhelmed with the number of new claims, leaving many qualified applicants who desperately need money without the benefits to which they’re entitled, according to a report by Ben Zipperer and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute. Around nine in 10 Americans say that the coronavirus pandemic is causing anxiety about their finances, according to an online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted April 7–9, 2020, by The Harris Poll.
Stamford Advocate
May 22, 2020
Millions of Americans — who watched states close non-essential businesses, subsequently crushing their careers — cannot even access unemployment benefits, according to the Economic Policy Institute. While some of these problems have been remedied, for others, collecting unemployment insurance was never an option.
Activist Post
May 22, 2020
Typically, the Black unemployment rate is double that of whites. Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, points out that many of the job losses are to undocumented immigrants — often paid under the table — who generally do not have access to food stamps, health care, and subsidized housing; nor are they eligible to receive the $1,200 stimulus checks.
Minnesota Women's Press
May 22, 2020
The workers faring best during the pandemic are those with high wages, access to healthcare, paid sick leave and the ability to work from home. But those benefits are exceedingly rare for much of the workforce, says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-oriented think tank. The coronavirus crisis has “uncovered the weakness in our social safety net,” she says. More than 40% of workers are employed in low-wage jobs and some 28 million non-elderly adults lack health insurance. Moreover, federal data suggests only about 30% of workers have the ability to work from home—and the rate is even lower for black and Latino workers.
In These Times
May 22, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified economic hardship in our community. Even prior to the health crisis and perhaps more today, the U.S. Economic Policy Institute named Teton County Idaho and Wyoming as the region with the largest economic inequality in the nation. With rising costs of living and over 40 percent of Teton County, Idaho working households living with less than the necessary income required to fund the five basic household necessities (housing, child care, food, transportation and health care), our local Extension office and Master Gardeners are working with nonprofit partners to tackle the issue of food access and hunger.
Teton Valley News
May 22, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute predicted in March that by summer, almost three million jobs would be wiped out from the U.S. economy. By May, though, CNN reported that over 20 million American jobs were lost in April alone.
The Oracle
May 22, 2020
Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, noted that the number of new claims filed last week is likely closer to 3.3 million, based on how DOL now separates its data.
Politico
May 22, 2020