Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank, said even if fast food workers find a way to stay home when sick, directives to seek medical attention go unheeded for the uninsured.
“Seventy-three percent of workers have paid sick days, so about a quarter don’t. And these are often the low wage jobs, the service sector,” Gould said. “Hourly workers take care of children and the elderly. Those who work as home health aides — or in retirement homes or nursing homes. Children don’t seem to be at risk themselves, but they have the ability to spread the disease. And they have less respiratory etiquette.”
ABC News
March 30, 2020
The problem goes beyond the gig economy. A study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that 64% of all private-sector workers receive paid sick leave. When looking at low-wage workers, that number plummets to 27%.
The Penny Hoarder
March 30, 2020
Según el Economic Policy Institute solo el 30% de los trabajadores de bajos ingresos cobran los días que estén con licencia por enfermedad y muchos de ellos trabajan en sectores en los que se demanda el contacto social y no pueden trabajar desde casa. En el país “hay deficiencias en la cobertura de los días por enfermedad particularmente entre los trabajadores con mucha exposición”.
El Diario
March 30, 2020
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — New research from the Economic Policy Institute shows that switching to a single-payer health system would boost the overall economy, make it easier for workers to switch jobs or start businesses and create a net surplus of new jobs.
Public Citizen
March 30, 2020
“Despite oft-repeated claims of large-scale job losses, a national program that would guarantee health insurance for every American would not profoundly affect the total number of jobs in the U.S. economy,” said economist Josh Bivens, who conducted the study. “In fact, such reform could boost wages and jobs and lead to more efficient labor markets that better match jobs and workers.”
Public News Service
March 30, 2020
“I think there’s a serious 50/50 chance at least that there will be a recession in the next year driven by the coronavirus and the response,” said Josh Bivens, with the Economic Policy Institute.
KOCO 5 News
March 30, 2020
There’s a self-reinforcing scenario in the U.S. given (1) our lack of universal health care and (2) the lack of a social safety net for people in the gig economy and those earning lower incomes in jobs lacking health insurance coverage. According to this report released yesterday from the Economic Policy Institute, people in the U.S. who need sick days the most are least able to get them.
Health Populi
March 30, 2020
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, states in a recent blog that “short-run” ways Congress can blunt the potential economic pain of COVID-19 would be to enact temporary payroll tax cuts (both to workers and to employers) and mandate temporary paid sick leave.
“Payroll tax cuts could provide demand stimulus generally but also give firms affected by the temporary cutback in spending some breathing room to pay bills during the demand slowdown,” Bivens explained. “The employer-side payroll tax cut would help firms finance the week of mandated paid sick leave. As always, any temporary cut to payroll taxes must be accompanied by provisions to hold harmless the trust funds (Social Security and Medicare, most importantly) that these taxes finance.”
ThinkAdvisor
March 30, 2020
With the stock market plummeting and hysteria around COVID-19 (commonly known as the coronavirus) escalating, it is time to get serious about the economic policy response. Policy makers and the public will need help in distinguishing between smart responses and those that are just ideological opportunism, such as calls for cuts in taxes and regulations, for example.
MarketWatch
March 30, 2020
Pelosi and Schumer’s statement came a week after reports revealed the White House is weighing possible new tax cuts in response to COVID-19 and the plummeting of stock markets—an example of “ideological opportunism,” the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said in a report released Monday.
Common Dreams
March 30, 2020