A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that from 2017 to 2018, 19.7% of black or African American workers could work from home compared to 29.9% of white workers and 37% of Asian workers who could do so. When a worker holds an “essential” job and is unable to work from home, they become more likely to contract the virus and fall ill.
The Daily Wildcat
April 28, 2020
A 2011 report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that a 40% increase in farmworker pay, bringing annual salaries from $10,000 to $14,000 a year, would only increase consumer spending a mere $16 a year. The author, Philip Martin, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California-Davis, concluded, “In short, increasing farmworker wages to raise farmworkers out of poverty poses little threat to consumer pocketbooks or U.S. exports.”
Common Dreams
April 28, 2020
In addition to sickness and death, the pandemic has caused many non-essential businesses to shut down. The devastating result is that since mid-March, more than 15 million American lost their jobs, according to a report by USA Today. If that trend continues, the unemployment rate could climb to nearly 16 percent, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
TSD Memphis
April 28, 2020
Over the past month, nearly 22 million workers filed unemployment claims, and nearly all of the jobs gained in the last five years have been lost. In addition, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 19.8 million workers will lose their jobs or be furloughed by summer, and that the national unemployment rate will be well above 15 percent by July.
Jack Reed
April 28, 2020
Local labor experts, meanwhile, say many current mid-Hudson openings pay less than $20 an hour (often just $12 to $16), well below the $44,000 to $59,000 annually that the Economic Policy Institute estimates a typical Hudson Valley resident needs to survive.
Times Herald-Record
April 28, 2020
In February, women accounted for 50 percent of the payroll and in March they accounted for 58.8 percent of lost jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that provides economic statistics and analysis.
The Miami Herald
April 28, 2020
The gap is further exemplified by worker demographics — around 16% of Hispanic workers and less than 20% of black workers are able to work from home, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Asian-American workers are most likely to have the ability to work from home, followed by non-Hispanic and white workers, the Economic Policy Institute reported.
Overall, less than 30% of American workers have the option to work from home, according to the Economic Policy Institute. School closures are adding to the burden: Workers are being forced to choose between taking care of their kids and working, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Impact 2020
April 28, 2020
Over the past month, nearly 22 million workers filed unemployment claims, and nearly all of the jobs gained in the last five years have been lost. In addition, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 19.8 million workers will lose their jobs or be furloughed by summer, and that the national unemployment rate will be well above 15 percent by July.
Public
April 28, 2020
Trump’s deregulatory blitz began shortly after he took office with an executive order that requires federal agencies to eliminate two rules for every new rule they implement, making it difficult for regulators to adapt to new challenges posed by the outbreak. By the time the pandemic hit, Trump had already blocked the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule, which would have helped ensure that federal contracts only go to employers who follow basic labor and employment laws, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Now, the administration says further deregulation is necessary to blunt the outbreak’s damage to the economy and hopes to grant liability waivers that would clear businesses of legal responsibility if their employees get sick or die from COVID-19. Meanwhile, business groups successfully lobbied the White House to exempt large employers from paid sick leave requirements in Congress’s initial COVID-19 stimulus package.
Truthout
April 28, 2020
The coronavirus brings to the surface once again the consequences of racial inequality which have haunted this country since its founding. In April 2019, the progressive Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a study that showed in 2018 black unemployment was at least twice as high as white unemployment nationally.
In February of that same year, the EPI’s Elise Gould issued a blog stating the wage gap between blacks and whites continues to widen. In her blog, Gould notes that “The findings here support the important research by Valerie Wilson and William M. Rodgers III which shows that black-white wage gaps expanded with rising wage inequality from 1979 to 2015.”
In spite of these negative trajectories, both black and Hispanic unemployment rates hit historic lows in 2019. The Hispanic poverty rate also went to a historic low in 2018, according to the Census Bureau, at 17.6%, but Hispanics were still overrepresented proportionally in terms of all of those in poverty. An EPI paper released in 2018 showed that in 2017 Hispanic men working full time made 14.9 percent less in hourly wages than comparable white men, while Hispanic women made 33.1 percent less than comparable white men. (Respectively, these were some-to-slight improvements over 2000.)
April 28, 2020