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But the numbers are likely much higher. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that beyond those who filed successful claims, roughly half more were unsuccessful or did not try because of the formidable barriers in the country’s unemployment systems.
The Astorian May 5, 2020 -
Since mass closures of public areas and businesses were implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the last weeks, more than 30.3 million people have filed for joblessness aid, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the economy losing more than 700,000 jobs in just one month — adding up to be one in six American workers. That number could be even more damning than initial statistics let on, with a survey by the Economic Policy Institute finding that around 12 million more people have lost jobs but haven’t filed a claim because couldn’t get through their state’s overwhelmed system or they didn’t try. Pop Culture May 5, 2020 -
“Basically we passed one really big bill, it lasted through the end of 2010 and then it kind of turned off,” said Josh Bivens, the director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “By that point, Congress had changed hands and everything shifted toward more austerity.”
Both Bivens and Drezner say that the stimulus packages already passed aren’t enough. “Given the shocking size of the contraction we’re facing, it’s going to be too small,” Bivens said, citing new numbers from the Congressional Budget Office predicting that unemployment could remain in the double digits in 2021. “The CBO projections look pretty solid to me and they’re kind of horrifying.”
Bivens predicts that the “real test” for Congress will come after the worst of the pandemic is over, when people are returning to work and the economy is slowly reopening, but unemployment is still rampant and millions continue to struggle. “I think almost everyone on Capitol Hill is like, Yes, during a recession, you need to do a big stimulus package, you need to run up the debt,” he said. “But then just as soon as that recession is over they want to get back to worrying about deficits and debt.”
VICE May 5, 2020 -
New research from the Economic Policy Institute reveals that the number of Americans who are losing their employer-based health insurance is growing rapidly, with more than 30 million people laid off or furloughed in the last six weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
EPI estimates that 12.7 million of the people who have lost their jobs since early March have lost their health insurance.
“The linkage between specific jobs and the availability of health insurance is a prime source of inefficiency and inequity in the U.S. health system,” wrote EPI research director Josh Bivens and economist Ben Zipperer. “It is especially terrifying for workers to lose their health insurance as a result of, and during, an ongoing pandemic.”
EPI released its new research shortly after government watchdog Public Citizen tweeted sarcastically that the U.S. has a “normal and fine healthcare system,” sharing a news story about health insurer Cigna’s skyrocketing profits for the first months of 2020 alongside EPI’s earlier headline from just two weeks ago when the think tank estimated 9.2 million Americans had lost their employer-based health insurance.
Nation of Change May 5, 2020 -
A survey by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute estimated that 12 million people had tried and failed to claim unemployment insurance, or didn’t even try because it seemed difficult. That would swell the true number of unemployed people close to 40 million, said Elise Gould, an economist at the institute.
“The official numbers underestimate the amount of economic devastation that’s happening,” Gould said. The official total was 28 million jobless claims as of last week. Millions more were still waiting to file claims, she said.
States need more help to process claims and provide emergency help like food, she said, and the federal government needs to provide more money to states, because states are generally bound by balanced-budget rules.
“These people are having trouble paying the May rent, the mortgage and all their bills,” Gould said. “States need to be providing additional aid, but because of balanced-budget amendments they’ll have to cut their budgets, which is the last thing we need.”
Pew Charitable Trust May 5, 2020 -
The third installment of the Reilly Center’s Communications & COVID-19 virtual event series, An Unequal Relationship: Race and COVID-19, will investigate the racial disparities accompanying the COVID-19 outbreak. Louisiana Budget Project’s Director of Public Affairs and Outreach Davante Lewis will lead the conversation.The complete list of panelists features:
- Davante Lewis, Director of Public Affairs and Outreach, Louisiana Budget Project, Moderator
- Jarvis DeBerry, Former Deputy Opinions Editor, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
- Rebekah Gee, M.D., MPH, CEO Health Care Services, LSU Health
- Denese Shervington M.D., MPH, Humanistic Integrative Psychiatry, President and CEO, Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies, UNO Research and Technology Foundation, Inc.
- Jenny Sullivan, Director of Housing and Health Integration, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Jhacova Williams, Ph.D., Economist for Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE)
Registration for An Unequal Relationship: Race and COVID-19 and each of the events in the Communications & COVID-19 series can be found online. Registrants will receive a Zoom meeting link and information on how to join. The events will also be recorded and uploaded to the Manship School’s YouTube channel.
Louisiana State University Manship School of Communication May 5, 2020 -
“That means many workers who lose their job as a result of the virus will be counted as dropping out of the labor force instead of as unemployed,” said Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at the Labor Department, and now head of policy at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Reuters May 5, 2020 -
“It’s starting to seem like the new normal,” said Julia Wolfe, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. “But I think it’s important to ground ourselves in that this is still a huge shock to a lot of workers and their families and also represents a huge strain on the unemployment insurance system.”
Cronkite News May 5, 2020 -
“All else equal, job loss of the magnitude reflected in the UI claims of the last six weeks would translate into an unemployment rate of 20.5 [percent],” the Economic Policy Institute’s Heidi Shierholz wrote in reaction to the figure. But, she notes, “in good times and bad,” the white unemployment rate is about 0.9 times the overall unemployment rate, while the black unemployment rate tends to be 1.8 times the overall unemployment rate. “That means that an overall unemployment rate of 20.5 [percent] would translate into a white unemployment rate of 18.4 [percent] and a black unemployment rate of 36.8 [percent],” she writes.
Politico May 5, 2020 -
Teacher shortages are a more severe problem in high-poverty areas with lower pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Spartan Newsroom May 5, 2020