“During this pandemic crisis, those who have been told they’re self employed, their employer hasn’t been paying into unemployment insurance or workers compensation or providing them with sick leave,” said Lawrence Mishel, a senior labor-market economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank. “They are very vulnerable to losing their job and getting sick.”
April 9, 2020
In general, black Americans face a higher exposure to the disease due to their concentration in urban areas and their jobs in essential industries. The Economic Policy Institute found that only 20 percent of black workers reported being eligible to work from home, compared with about 30 percent of their white counterparts.
April 9, 2020
Sixty-six percent of millennials have nothing saved for retirement (“what retirement?” you might be wondering); homeownership is 8 percentage points lower than it was for previous generations at the same age. For millennials in marginalized groups, it’s even worse, with starker inequities and lower wages. For example, only 16.2 percent of Hispanic workers and 19.7 percent of black Americans are able to work from home during this pandemic, according to a blog post by the Economic Policy Institute. As Annie Lowrey wrote for the Atlantic in 2019, “Millennial suffering won’t just hurt millennials” — it’s a drag on the economy as a whole.
April 9, 2020
Jhacova Williams and Kayla Blado of the Economic Policy Institute wrote in a blog post Tuesday that Wisconsin’s elections “highlighted that Americans need more options to vote.”
“One promising method is a vote-by-mail system,” wrote Williams and Blado. “Five states—Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah—already conduct their elections through mail… It’s time for state elections to practice what their own health departments preach: stay home.”
April 9, 2020
According to an April 1 report from the Economic Policy Institute, roughly 20 million Americans, including 87,000 Mainers, could be laid off or furloughed by July.
April 9, 2020
When it comes to the safety of migrant workers, no government rules have been issued. The Economic Policy Institute has released a white paper suggesting how to keep workers safe through the same sorts of social distancing and hygiene measures now in place for the general population.
Colorado Sun
April 9, 2020
While officials are ordering people to stay home to prevent the illness from spreading, that puts African Americans at a disadvantage. A smaller percentage have jobs that allow them to work from home. Before the coronavirus crisis, 29.9% of white employees could telework, compared to 19.7% of African Americans, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.
The Harvard Crimson
April 9, 2020
A dichotomy between people who must be on the streets and people who can continue their lives via screens during this pandemic is apparent. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “less than one in five black workers and roughly one in six Hispanic workers are able to work from home.” These minority groups are not afforded the privilege of working from home and must put themselves at risk as they perform jobs that keep our society functioning.
April 9, 2020
The data is indisputable. The Economic Policy Institute’s most recent study found that CEO compensation grew by 1008% from 1978 to 2018, while the pay of a typical worker rose just 12% in that time.
April 9, 2020
The unemployment insurance system has gone underfunded for decades, and the consequences are becoming evident, says Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “We don’t have a system that’s agile and strong enough to handle the avalanche of claims,” she says. “There will be delays, and people will suffer needlessly.”
April 9, 2020