About 28 million Americans have been laid off or furloughed since early March due to COVID-19, and it’s likely 12.7 million lost health insurance through their employer as a result, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
To come to this conclusion, research economists with the institute analyzed data from state-level unemployment insurance claims from the U.S. Department of Labor. The economists explained their methodology in a separate blog post.
Becker's Payer Issues
May 1, 2020
Ben Zipperer is an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, and co-author of the new report ‘Unemployment filing failures’
94.1 KPFA
May 1, 2020
Wash your hands. Work from home. Avoid congregating with others. Wear a facemask. The hyper-individualistic guidelines rolled out to halt COVID-19 and flatten the curve precisely represent the inequities built into our public health system. By focusing exclusively on the behaviors of individuals, policymakers overlook how the employment circumstances of Black and Latinx people force them to choose between social distancing or paying their rent. Only 19.7% of Black workers and 16.2% of Latinx workers work from home compared to 29.9% of White workers and 37% of Asian workers, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Those with limited financial resources and access to transportation also cannot stock up food for weeks at a time.
Chicago Reporter
May 1, 2020
For every 10 workers who successfully filed for unemployment benefits, as many as six additional workers either tried to apply but couldn’t get through the system or didn’t try because the process was too difficult, according to Economic Policy Institute research released Tuesday.
Some 21.5 million workers filed for unemployment benefits between March 22 and April 18. The difficulties associated with filing prevented another 7.8 million to 12.2 million workers from filing, the EPI study estimated, based on its analysis of survey data from nearly 25,000 respondents.
Bloomberg
May 1, 2020
Although economists can track layoffs via new unemployment claims, tracking the uninsured in real time is trickier, as each worker can carry insurance for multiple family members, and some are able to shift to other sources of coverage. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute estimated that 9.2 million workers were at risk of losing their health insurance coverage.
Kaiser Health News
May 1, 2020
The Labor Department doesn’t release jobless claims by industry. So, building on the work of economist Ben Zipperer and his colleagues at the Economic Policy Institute, we analyzed industry-specific new unemployment-benefit claims from 14 states that publish them. (For a full list, see the charts below.)
The Washington Post
May 1, 2020
According to a survey by the Economic Policy Institute, up to 12 million more people have lost jobs but still haven’t filed a claim for benefits, either because they couldn’t get through their state’s overwhelmed system or they didn’t try yet.
“These findings imply the official count of unemployment insurance claims likely drastically understates the extent of employment reductions,” wrote Ben Zipperer and Elise Gould, economists at EPI.
Boston Herald
May 1, 2020
A key reason for that emerges from a survey by the Economic Policy Institute. It found that up to 12 million more people have lost jobs but haven’t filed a claim for benefits, either because they couldn’t get through their state’s overwhelmed system or they didn’t try, perhaps because it was too difficult.
Tribune Chronicle
May 1, 2020
Another 3.8 million Americans officially joined Atwood in the unemployment line last week, for a total of 30 million people who’ve lost their jobs since March. And that 30 million unemployed total could actually be even higher, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The center-left think tank reports that up to 12 million people were unable to file a claim on their state’s unemployment system between mid-March and mid-April.
CBS News
May 1, 2020
Still, the job losses may be far worse than government figures indicate. And that might dictate how this downturn, unique and breathtaking in its severity, is tackled. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that roughly 50 percent more people than counted as filing claims in a recent four-week period may have qualified for benefits but were stymied in applying or didn’t even try because they found the process too formidable.
Hunt Scanlon Media
May 1, 2020