The Democratic proposal has the backing of left-leaning groups such as the National Employment Law Project, the Economic Policy Institute and the National Women’s Law Center, along with the National Employment Lawyers Association. It is certain to draw pushback from employer-friendly Republicans who want to limit workers’ legal recourse, and faces dim prospects in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Huffington Post
May 14, 2020
But isn’t the Democratic ask for $1 trillion for state and local budget assistance excessive? Actually, it is right on target, based on some of the best research and projections we have. Economist Timothy J. Bartik of the W.E. Upjohn Institute now estimates state and local needs through the end of 2021 at $959 billion. And Economic Policy Institute economist Josh Bivens argues that unemployment and slow state revenues will likely persist beyond 2021, so “federal aid should continue so long as economic conditions warrant, and not be set by arbitrary timelines.”
Forbes
May 14, 2020
There are about 500,000 people on H-1B visas in the United States, according to estimates by Daniel Costa, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute. More than 70 percent of them are Indians, and many of them technology workers. About 220,000 people were enrolled in the 2018-19 academic year in the Optional Practical Training program, which allows foreign students to work after completing their studies.
The New York Times
May 14, 2020
“Today’s weekly [unemployment] claims numbers show that things have further deteriorated—drastically—since mid-April,” Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said.
CBS News
May 14, 2020
Initial unemployment filings are usually seen as a reliable indicator of how many Americans have lost their jobs in the past week. However, a survey with the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the figures may be underrepresenting the number of job losses, as frustrated Americans have given up trying to apply with government offices bogged down with requests.
WTKR 3 News
May 14, 2020
Another factor that may contribute to differences across counties and states in the prevalence of these claims is the responsiveness of their UI systems. Research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that for every 10 people who successfully filed for UI benefits between mid-March and mid-April, at least three more tried but couldn’t get through. Some states have purposely made it more burdensome for people to apply for UI benefits, while others have simply failed to update or upgrade computer systems that handle such applications.
Brookings Institution
May 14, 2020
That’s because some of the hardest hit sectors of the economy are dominated by women, and particularly Latinas. Hospitality, retail and health care have all seen big job losses that have left Latinas vulnerable, says Elise Gould with the Economic Policy Institute.
“The unemployment rate for Hispanic women sits at 20.2%,” Gould said. “That’s 1 in 5 Hispanic women are now unemployed.”
Marketplace
May 14, 2020
“This is worse and weirder than anything I’ve ever seen,” Heidi Shierholz, a director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, said. Shierholz served as the chief economist at the Department of Labor from 2014 to 2017 and dealt firsthand with the slow recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. “We know how to wrap our brains around the bursting of an asset bubble of seven trillion dollars in the housing market, or the end of the dot-com boom,” she said. “But we don’t have practice in dealing with the fallout from this pandemic.” We are beginning to see who will be most affected by the economic downturn. Women are losing jobs at a higher rate, because there are more of them in the service sectors most affected by the virus. The crisis has also been increasing racial economic disparities: black and Latino workers are more likely to work service-industry jobs—in restaurants, bars, hotels—and that sector was the first to shut down, and the least likely to fully reopen in the near term. “We always see this during recessions, but this one is likely to be worse,” Shierholz told me.
The New Yorker
May 14, 2020
Schleifer’s plan would repeal the Trump tax breaks that unfairly benefit the wealthiest of Americans, restore tax rates to their prior levels, and create two new tax brackets for high-income earners. These brackets would include a 40 percent marginal tax rate on those making over $1 million in a year and a 42 percent marginal rate on Americans making over $2 million in a year. Schleifer notes that Americans do not feel that they have benefited from Trump tax cuts generally. A recent poll found only about 40 percent of Americans approved of the cut while 49 percent disapproved. Unsurprisingly, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that the bill increased the average worker’s wages by only about 2 cents per hour.
Patch
May 14, 2020