According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonpartisan think tank, H-2A workers are already underpaid compared to other workers.
“In 2019, the average wage of all nonsupervisory farmworkers was $13.99 per hour, according to USDA, while the average wage for all workers in 2019 was $26.53 per hour, meaning the farmworker wage was just 53% of the average for all workers,” read an EPI post. “And the average wage for production and nonsupervisory nonfarm workers—the most logical cohort for workers outside of agriculture to compare with farmworkers—was $23.51.
Visalia Times Delta
April 22, 2020
In March, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that California will lose over 1.6 million jobs by this summer, close to a quarter of which will be in the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors. Nowhere will this be more acutely felt than Los Angeles County where fashion, food and tourism are staples of our economy. And a recent report released by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, and Ong & Associates finds this could affect Latino and Asian neighborhoods the most, leaving families scrambling for solutions without the means to pay rent or put food on the table. These communities are also the ones that will likely not receive a fair share from emergency financial relief programs.
NBC News
April 22, 2020
That number of suddenly uninsured people comes from a report by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Occupy Democrats confirmed in a Facebook message its post was based on that study.
Farmers Advance
April 22, 2020
Projections vary on the future of leisure and hospitality employment in Santa Barbara County. The country has already surpassed the 19.8 million job loss the Economic Policy Institute predicted would occur by June, according to Rupert. That would translate to about 165,000 jobs lost in California’s leisure and hospitality sector, 11,000 of which would come from Santa Barbara County.
Noozhawk
April 22, 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.
Dianne Feinstein
April 22, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, “Greener industries grow faster than the overall economy… States with greater green intensity have generally fared better in the current economic downturn… Green jobs are accessible to workers without a college degree… Manufacturing plays a strong role in the green economy… Green jobs go beyond the renewable energy industry.” With all of the facts right in front of us, why are Republican policymakers hesitant to support policy like the Green New Deal? Why did Donald Trump back out of the Paris Climate agreement? Surely supporting policy like this would bring new jobs in solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear and all other forms of renewable energy.
Daily Utah Chronicle
April 22, 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.
Jeff Merkley
April 22, 2020
Since 2001, free trade with China has cost millions of Americans their jobs. For example, the Economic Policy Institute has found that from 2001 to 2015, about 3.4 million U.S. jobs were lost due to the nation’s trade deficit with China.
Breitbart
April 22, 2020
“When we get on the other side of the pandemic, it’s going to be a buyers’ market again for labor,” said Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute. “People will just be scrambling to get a job, any job.”
Bloomberg
April 22, 2020