Media clips

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• Economic Effects of COVID-19 Hit US Hourly Workers Hard

  Senior Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Elise Gould recently wrote of how just 30% of US minimum-wage workers have the ability to accrue paid sick days. A large number of these are in the food industry, and have direct and frequent contact with the public.

  Citizen Truth April 21, 2020
• Dukes: Don’t overlook ‘essential’ workers facing risks: grocery employees, bus drivers and others

  According to the 2019 study done by the Economic Policy Institute, 30% of whites hold jobs that allow them to work from home, while 16% of Hispanics and 20% of blacks can work from home.

  South Bend Tribune April 21, 2020
• For the Class of 2020, the Coronavirus Poses Amplified Economic Strain

  Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), says that while college graduates of recent years were seeing an improvement in the job market, their economic outlook had never fully recovered to a level that previous generations enjoyed.

  “That benchmark of getting back to 2007 was actually a low bar for where we wanted to get back to,” Gould said. “I think we’re still a ways away from trying to get back to the kind of economy we had in 2000, and that should be the target in this recovery.”

  Further compounding the current grim economic forecast is the magnitude in which the economy has been reshaped by the viral outbreak. Unlike in 2008, many businesses have now been forced to unexpectedly close and halt operations.

  “Presumably, when we get on the other side of this, a lot of those places will open. The ones that did not go out of business will probably reopen relatively quickly,” Gould said.

  However, Gould said she believes there will be many similar trends to the 2008 financial crisis, such as elevated unemployment rates and an increase in underemployment, especially as businesses begin to reopen their doors.

  “[Recent graduates] are going to be scrambling to get jobs so they can start paying off their student loans. They may not wait for a job that gets them on the career trajectory that they hoped for,” Gould said. “Or they may be in a little bit of a waiting pattern to get their foothold in their career while they work in other jobs.”

  Student loan deferment — such as what is proposed in Harder and Romney’s bills — is helpful, according to Gould. But she said it is “premature” to set an end date on the deferment period, since it is unclear as to how long this economic downturn will last.

  “We certainly don’t want to set up those new grads to fail and default on those loans. That doesn’t help anybody,” Gould said. “So we want to provide an adequate safety net to make sure that those new grads not only can try to get started on their careers, but can get on track to be able to pay back those loans.”

  National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators April 21, 2020
• Prioritize Essential Workers: What Working People Are Doing This Week

  A comprehensive U.S. manufacturing policy is needed now more than ever | Economic Policy Institute https://t.co/BbXyU8dAjl

  — Metal Trades Dept. (@metaltradesafl) April 14, 2020

  AFL-CIO April 21, 2020
• The Fed’s Only Choice – Exacerbate The Wealth Gap, Or Else

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1% take home 21% of all income in the United States, the largest share since 1928.

  Seeking Alpha April 21, 2020
• Sephora Never Valued Workers Like Me

  And those of us stuck in part-time jobs are paid 30 percent less per hour than full-timers doing the same thing. That means we face a double penalty: not enough hours, and lower pay for each hour we do work. No wonder I had zero savings when I lost my job.

  The New York Times April 21, 2020
• Over 9 million Americans lost health insurance amid coronavirus pandemic, analysis finds

  In the four weeks leading up to April 11, the number of unemployment claims passed 22 million. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), that means that roughly 9.2 million workers likely lost their employer-sponsored health insurance during that time.

  “As people continue to lose their jobs, which we expect that they will do unfortunately, we’re going to see losses in health insurance coverage,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at EPI, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s because in the United States, we’ve chosen as a country, unfortunately, to tie access to health insurance with employment.”

  He continued: “If we avoided that, if we made sure everybody was covered, everybody has access to health insurance regardless of their employment status, we wouldn’t be in this kind of predicament.”

  Yahoo Finance April 21, 2020
• (Video) Coronavirus: Millions risk losing employer-provided health insurance, study reveals

  9.2 million workers are at risk of losing employer-provided health insurance in the last four weeks, according to recent EPI data. Economic Policy Institute Director of Research Josh Bivens joins Yahoo FInance’s Seana Smith to break down the details.

  Yahoo Finance April 21, 2020
• An Early Look At Who Bernie Sanders Wants To Join Joe Biden’s Policy Task Forces

  Though not exhaustive, some other names on the Sanders campaign’s early list include Heather Boushey, an inequality expert with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth; Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, two leading economists in the world of wealth inequality and progressive taxation; Jeffrey Sachs, who runs Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development; Josh Bivens, an economist with progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute; Daniel Kammen, who runs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab at University of California, Berkeley; Tara Raghuveer, an affordable housing activist who runs the Kansas City Tenants group; and Bonnie Castillo, the executive director with the National Nurses Union.

  The Huffington Post April 21, 2020
• Amazon-owned Whole Foods is quietly tracking its employees with a heat map tool that ranks which stores are most at risk of unionizing

  “Employers spend millions of dollars a year to hire union avoidance advisers to see how susceptible they are to their workers organizing,” Celine McNicholas, the director of government affairs and labor counsel for the Economic Policy Institute, said.

  Overall, US companies spent at least $100 million on consulting services for anti-union campaigns between 2014 and 2017, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute based on disclosure forms filed with the US Department of Labor.

  Business Insider April 21, 2020