The Economic Policy Institute has also proposed a more generous plan for a fourth round of stimulus funding, including $500 billion for states, more extended unemployment insurance, another direct payment to households, and deficit-financed infrastructure investment.
“How policymakers respond now will determine the level of pain working families experience and the speed at which the economy can get back on track after the shutdown period is over. The relief and recovery packages passed since the crisis began included many good measures, but they are still too little and some provisions in these packages represent policy missteps,” EPI analysts wrote in a policy brief.
WJLA
April 27, 2020
According to Heidi Shierholz, economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and former chief economist at the Labor Department in the Obama Administration, one in seven US workers has applied for unemployment insurance.
El Diario
April 27, 2020
- When lower-wage service workers and gig workers get sick, staying home becomes a financial hardship. According to the Economic Policy Institute, prior to this crisis less than a third of Americans in the bottom 10% of wage earners had access to paid sick leave, compared to 93% among the top 10% of wage earners. Now, many will receive emergency coronavirus-related coverage under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). FFCRA provides temporary sick leave to workers at companies under 500 employees, with possible exemptions for companies under 50 employees. Companies with over 500 employees vary in whether they previously provided sick leave to lower-wage service workers and whether they are adjusting their policies in response to the pandemic. Additionally, some cities have sick leave requirements for workers in their jurisdiction, and some—such as Los Angeles—have expanded these policies in response to COVID-19.
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
April 27, 2020
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.”
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
April 27, 2020
“All else equal, job losses of this magnitude would translate into an unemployment rate of 18.3%”, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a note Thursday.
Newburgh Gazette
April 27, 2020
Using data reported by the Labor Department for March 14 to April 11, the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group, estimated that seven in 10 applicants were receiving benefits. That left seven million other jobless workers who had filed claims but were still waiting for relief.
The New York Times
April 24, 2020
Looking back at this period in 2016, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute concluded that even if other policymakers made serious mistakes, the sluggish recovery from the Great Recession could “be explained entirely by the fiscal austerity imposed by Republicans in Congress.” Austerity put hard limits on the economy’s ability to grow, leading to persistent, long-term unemployment for millions of people.
The New York Times
April 24, 2020
Commuting during the pandemic is a reality for most Hispanic workers. Analyzing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an Economic Policy Institute report published March 19 found that 16% of Hispanic workers are able to work remotely, compared to 37% of Asian workers, 30% of white workers and nearly 20% of black workers. Low-wage workers have the least flexibility, EPI stated, as 9% in the lowest quartile of the wage distribution can telework compared with 61% of workers in the highest quartile. Along with having the least flexibility for telework, about half (49%) of Hispanic respondents said they or someone in their household has taken a pay cut or lost a job – or both – due to the COVID-19 outbreak, in comparison with 33% of all U.S. adults, according to Pew Research Center.
HR Dive
April 24, 2020
“Further, job losses are ongoing. Based on [gross domestic product] forecasts, we project that the net decline in employment could exceed 30 million by the end of June,” Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a Thursday morning blog post.
Newsweek
April 24, 2020
An optimistic scenario would have the economy bouncing back in the second half of the year, which is possible if businesses begin to reopen and economic activity picks up, said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. But even then, she said the unemployment rate nationally would probably remain around 8 percent a year from now, and closer to 10 percent by the election.
“The damage that has been done to the economy is just really, really dramatic,” she said. “It’s going to take some time to get back.”
Politico
April 24, 2020