Since many industries hit hard by the coronavirus — such as retail, service and hospitality — often don’t provide health insurance, it’s unclear how many of those 17 million people lost employer-provided coverage. But a study from the Economic Policy Institute released last month estimated that 3.5 million Americans were at high risk of losing their health insurance in the last two weeks of March alone.
Law 360
April 15, 2020
One analyst predicts that the disruption to businesses from coronavirus could lead to 15,000 permanent retail store closures in 2020. The Economic Policy Institute predicts that the disease outbreak could potentially wipe out three million jobs from the U.S. economy before this summer. Read that again. 3 million jobs. Small business owners are being absolutely crushed.
Thrive Global
April 15, 2020
The most recent estimates from the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, dated April 1, suggest that as many as 779,000 people in Illinois could be out of work by July, which would boost the state’s unemployment rate to 15.6%.
Herald Review
April 15, 2020
According to Economic Policy Institute analysis, an estimated 84 percent of Latinx workers and 80 percent of Black workers could not afford to work from home even before the pandemic hit.
Elise Gould from EPI commented, “Workers on the front line are at risk of exposure, not just doctors and nurses, but grocery store workers, home care aides, cooks and delivery drivers.” (Chicago Sun Times, April 9) These essential workers are forced to work for low pay without being provided with personal protective equipment like gloves, face masks and hand sanitizer.
Workers
April 15, 2020
Nearly a third of black women are employed in service jobs compared with just one-fifth of white women, according to Nina Banks, associate professor of economics at Bucknell University. This is due to decades of discrimination, Banks writes for the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit.
Business Insider
April 15, 2020
Claims will only continue to increase. The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute estimated that nearly 780,000 people in Illinois could be out of work by July.
Rockford Register Star
April 15, 2020
Owen Herrnstadt, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, made a similar point in a brief blog post. “If ever there was a time for U.S. policymakers to implement a manufacturing policy across industrial sectors that will protect the public (including workers) and our nation’s economy and security from vulnerable supply chains, it is now,” he wrote.
Politico
April 15, 2020
Experts reason that the disparity is in part due to inequity regarding the types of jobs women of color have been forced to accept. Nina Banks, an economics professor at Bucknell University, wrote for the Economic Policy Institute that almost a third of Black women work in service jobs compared to one-fifth of white women. “Discriminatory public policies have reinforced the view of black women as workers rather than as mothers and contributed to black women’s economic precarity,” Banks wrote. The median annual earnings reported for Black women in 2017 was just more than $36,000, 21% lower than that of white women even though Black women “have a longer history of sustained employment,” Banks said.
Daily Kos
April 15, 2020