A survey conducted in mid-April by Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, shows that for every 10 people who said they successfully filed for unemployment benefits during the previous four weeks, 3-4 people “tried to apply but could not get through the system to make a claim.”
Gainesville Times
May 5, 2020
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that for every 10 people able to successfully file for unemployment, three to four couldn’t get through the system to make a claim, and one to two chose not to because it was too difficult. In total, the study concludes that 9 million to 14 million eligible people were thwarted from accessing benefits by these systemic failures.
The Washington Examiner
May 5, 2020
Forty percent of the revenues of black-owned businesses are in the five most vulnerable sectors — including leisure, hospitality and retail — compared with 25 percent of the revenues of all U.S. businesses.
New York Times
May 5, 2020
There are other avenues to protect small businesses and their employees in this time of crisis, and these mechanisms would reach more people and help more communities. For example, as the Economic Policy Institute notes: A paycheck guarantee program would be far simpler to administer and would more effectively stabilize employment and business in this moment.
NC Policy Watch
May 5, 2020
Nearly 13 million Americans likely lost their health insurance with their jobs according to research by the Economic Policy Institute.
CBS News
May 5, 2020
As of this week, one out of every six Americans is out of work. In the last six weeks, more than 30 million people have filed unemployment claims as businesses have laid off or furloughed workers due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many still have bills to pay and are struggling to put food on the table. Yet, just 29 percent of applicants received unemployment benefits in March. Soledad O’Brien speaks with Hiedi Shierholz, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, about what’s behind the backlog.
Matter of Fact
May 5, 2020
A survey by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, examined the problem. It found that for every 10 people who were able to successfully claim unemployment benefits, three or four others tried but were frustrated by the system and two others did not try because they found the system too difficult.
Omaha World-Herald
May 5, 2020
Nevada’s job market has so far been one of the hardest hit in the country. And according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, the state now has 25% of its workforce unemployed.
KUNR
May 5, 2020
The most recent estimates, offered by both the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, project a shortfall for the states alone of about $500 billion from now through June 2021, with localities losing an additional $250 billion. Even those numbers are based on projections of unemployment levels that increasingly look far too optimistic. With more than 30 million already filing for unemployment, we are nearing the record for joblessness set in the Great Depression. James Knightley, chief economist of ING, notes that by the end of May, fewer than one in two working-age Americans will be drawing a paycheck. If McConnell were to block aid to the states and localities, wholesale layoffs of teachers, police, public hospital staff, and caregivers for the poor and vulnerable would add hundreds of thousands to the number of unemployed.
The Nation
May 5, 2020
The Check’s in The Mail: I thought it was pretty sad over the past few weeks when news started to trickle out that big companies were taking loans intended, in spirit and practice, for small businesses. But, then, this week came along. The Economic Policy Institute came out with the following conclusion based on a March/April national survey: Only about half of the “potential” unemployment insurance applicants “are actually receiving benefits,” concluded EPI, a left of center think tank. There are a lot of reasons for this: like overwhelmed state unemployment systems. In addition, some states like Florida (shocker) have made it more difficult to draw benefits over the years, according to The New York Times. In other unemployment news, some state officials are already worried that the jobless won’t return to work fast enough—and may strike back. The Washington Post reports that states like Oklahoma and Iowa are threatening to strip benefits from workers who are afraid to return to potentially unsafe jobs. “If there is a claimant out there that says ‘you know what, I can make more money sitting at home,’ ” one Oklahoma government big was quoted in the Post. “then, if the employer will contact us, that’s a refusal of civil work and we’ll cut off their benefits.” Nice. Thank goodness farm state officials are fighting for our right to eat pork chops.
Newsweek
May 5, 2020