Media clips

• GOP governors move to cut unemployment benefits as debate rages over effects

  David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said that allowing people a little extra time to find more suitable work would actually benefit the economy in the long run.

  “It may be that some job options being presented to them are very low-paying jobs, and if enhanced unemployment benefits are giving workers a little more bargaining power, maybe that’s a good thing,” he said.

  “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to pull back on unemployment benefits simply because restaurant owners are struggling to find staff.”

  The Hill May 14, 2021
• Half of US restaurant owners say they can’t hire enough workers: What is the real cause of the shortage?

  The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a non-profit think-tank based in Washington, D.C., further determined that April’s slow job growth had little to do with continued unemployment aid, but rather continued health concerns and an “outflow” of workers — primarily women — from employment due to caregiving concerns.

  “Millions of Americans continue to cite health concerns as a reason for reluctance to return to work — as further evidence of this, vaccination rates correlate positively with increased employment across states,” wrote Josh Bivens and Heidi Shierholz of the EPI in a blog post published Tuesday.

  Nextstar Media Wire May 14, 2021
• Unemployment claims fell last week.

  “Overall, jobless claims are about three times as high as they were pre-Covid, but they’re coming down” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  New York Times May 14, 2021
• Some GOP states are moving to end federal unemployment benefits, which could impact at least 276,000 workers

  Individual states rolling back federal unemployment benefits could have a disproportionate impact on marginalized workers. A report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) looked at how much of the UI disbursed in each state was from federal benefits. The EPI report notes that this could impact workers along racial lines, since states where Black Americans make up a larger share of the population tend to have weaker UI benefits.

  In South Carolina, for instance, around 76% of total UI came from federal programs in the fourth quarter of 2020. Arkansas and Montana both leaned heavily on federal benefits in disbursement of UI benefits, with federal UI making up 74.7% and 68.7% of their total disbursed benefits, respectively.

  “The US economy is still down 8.2 million jobs from what we had prior to the pandemic — and if you account for people newly entering the workforce since then, we are down over 11 million jobs,” David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at EPI, said in an email to Insider. “So, the economy is simply not at a place where we should be cutting back UI benefits. There are far more people looking for work and unable to find it than there are employers unable to fill vacancies, and pulling back on UI will only slow down the recovery.”

  Business Insider May 14, 2021
• U.S. job openings hit record high in March

  “Before long many more workers will come back into job-search as it becomes increasingly safe to pursue these public facing jobs … and as wages rise to compensate for the extra risk of working in face-to-face places during the lingering pandemic,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

  Reuters May 14, 2021
• Prices rising as lawmakers weigh how to proceed on infrastructure plan

  As more Americans get vaccinated and restaurants and retail reopen, economists say many are eager to spend, with businesses struggling to keep up with demand, therefore raising prices, though some economists say the big picture is important to consider since the numbers are compared to the same month a year ago.

  “If we just go back in time, in April 2020 and think about what was happening in the economy then, that was the worst month of the COVID collapse,” said Josh Bivens, the director of Research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

  Sinclair Broadcast Group May 14, 2021
• Low pay and ‘toxic’ workplaces are driving workers away from restaurants
  The jobs restaurant workers did before have changed, as has the world around them, and wages should reflect that, said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  “When restaurants post jobs, they are posting jobs right now that are just inherently harder, more stressful than they were before [the Covid-19 pandemic],” Shierholz said. “They have to deal with anti-maskers, much more disinfecting and sanitation requirements, and they’re actually riskier jobs than they used to be.”

  That being said, Shierholz isn’t yet convinced that a true labor shortage has taken hold in restaurants and other sectors. Data such as hours worked and wage growth don’t yet reflect that.

  Businesses that say they have a hard time finding the workers they need, should really include the qualifier, “at the wages I want to pay,” Sheirholz said.

  Expecting to pay the same wages ignores the Covid-19 realities, she said, noting health and safety concerns as well as ongoing childcare needs.
  CNN Business May 14, 2021
• Missouri, Tennessee join U.S. states cutting pandemic payments

  Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, and South Carolina have also announced plans to terminate the benefits they blame for slowing hiring.

  But it’s an idea that is hotly disputed.

  “Cutting pandemic UI benefits now, as some states have done or are considering, will not just hurt workers who are depending on federal benefits while they cannot find work or are unable to work, it will also drag on the economy, as those benefits are supporting spending,” wrote the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens and Heidi Shierholz.

  Reuters May 14, 2021
• Column: The high number of job openings proves the stimulus is working, not that Americans are lazy

  Though the numbers are encouraging, there still aren’t enough jobs available for everyone who is unemployed, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which analyzes jobs impacting low- and middle-income workers.

  On average, there were 9.8 million unemployed workers compared with 8.1 million job openings in March. That means there were 1.2 unemployed workers for every job opening.

  In other words, for every 12 unemployed workers, there were only 10 jobs available, the institute said. That means there were no jobs available for 1.6 million unemployed workers, no matter what they did.

  The most impacted were educational services, accommodation and food services, other services, and transportation and utilities, where there were more than three unemployed workers for every two job openings, the institute’s analysis showed.

  Chicago Tribune May 14, 2021
• Walsh Lonely at Top Without Deputies to Advance Labor Agenda

  “Particularly with the lack of a Wage and Hour administrator, it is tougher to go forward with proactive things,” said Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at DOL and now a senior economist and policy director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “It’s going into new territory, and it makes sense—they need a wage and hour administrator in there to lead on that.”

  Bloomberg Law May 14, 2021
• Longtime AFL-CIO Official Takes Up Key Labor Post In Biden Administration

  Lee was most recently the president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which put on that 2014 conference and has been critical of free trade policies. Earlier this year, she testified on Capitol Hill in support of the Biden administration’s plan to bolster workers here in the U.S., drawing attention to low-wage workers who rely on federal anti-poverty programs to make ends meet.

  At the Labor Department, Lee will turn her attention to labor practices and abuses overseas. The bureau she heads up has already been scrutinizing the products made with forced labor in Xinjiang, an issue she is expected to weigh in on during future China trade talks.

  NPR May 14, 2021
• The Price of a Free Market

  Bob spoke with Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, and former chief economist for the Department of Labor during the Obama administration, to find out what the numbers can really tell us, and what they can’t.

  WNYC On Media May 14, 2021
• Restaurant workers protest poor working conditions and low wages at McDonald’s, Chipotle, and more amid coronavirus pandemic

  Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, said there is some evidence of a labor shortage in the leisure and hospitality industry. Wages may be slowly increasing but they’re still not high enough to attract workers, she argued.

  Shierholz said fast-food employers are competing with hurdles like child care, ongoing health concerns and low wages. She said annual earnings for non-supervisory leisure and hospitality workers remain around $22,000 a year.

  If employers want to bounce back, they need to address workforce concerns, Shierholz recommended.

  “Listen to what workers need and then try to meet those,” she said. “People’s lives are just a lot more chaotic than they were before the recession. As much as policies can be adjusted to make room for that, that will help attract workers.”

  ABC News May 14, 2021
• How to end wage theft

  Alexia Fernandez Campbell, Senior Reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, and Terri Gerstein, Senior Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute and Director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program, talk with reporter Chris Bangert-Drowns about wage theft during the pandemic, potential enforcement failures by the Department of Labor, and how to best end the practice.

  WPFW May 14, 2021
• GOP can’t understand why people aren’t rushing to jobs that don’t pay a living wage

  David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, told The American Independent Foundation that with the economy still 8.2 million jobs behind pre-pandemic levels, it was not the time to be cutting back unemployment benefits.

  “There are far more people looking for work and unable to find it than there are employers unable to fill vacancies, and pulling back on [unemployment insurance] will only slow down the recovery,” he said. “To the extent that employers in some industries — like restaurants and leisure and hospitality — are having trouble finding staff, they need to take a hard look at the wages and quality of those jobs. Those industries are notoriously some of the lowest paying industries in the economy.”

  He added, “I don’t think anyone should be surprised that some people might not be eager to take difficult jobs that are even harder now — and that might put their health at risk — if employers aren’t offering better pay and benefits than they were offering prior to the pandemic.”

  The American Independent May 14, 2021
• President Biden Should Keep Section 232 Steel Measures in Place

  American-made steel has been essential to our national security and our economy for decades. Now, with our economy beginning to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, it’s essential that the Biden administration continue supporting the U.S. steel industry by keeping Section 232 steel measures in place.

  Morning Consult May 14, 2021
• A disappointing jobs report shows rocky road for the recovery and President Biden’s efforts to push new spending

  Wages overall have not shot up significantly, which would be expected if employers needed to lure workers away from the higher unemployment benefits, said Valerie Wilson, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. And the leisure and hospitality industry, a low-wage sector that would be most affected by a disincentive, had the nation’s strongest growth last month, adding 331,000 jobs.

  “If it was true people were staying out because of the money, they certainly wouldn’t be coming back to the lowest-paying jobs,” she said.

  Boston Globe May 14, 2021
• Montana, South Carolina to kick people off jobless benefits even as unemployment rises

  “It’s just breathtakingly terrible economics,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Department of Labor from 2014 to 2017, said in a tweet.

  “It will cause enormous suffering of those whose benefits are cut off, and damage state economies by turning away federal money that is providing fiscal support,” she added.

  CNBC May 14, 2021
• New pandemic low in unemployment claims bodes well for jobs report

  “In this era, there’s been more uncertainty than ever before, so I wouldn’t hang my hat on any number,” former Department of Labor chief economist Heidi Shierholz tells Axios.

  Axios May 14, 2021
• U.S. jobs recovery reveals two very different Americas

  Another sign of two Americas: Black unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.7% vs. 5.3% for whites, “making Black workers the only racial and ethnic group (as a whole) to experience worsening metrics,” according to Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. “Clearly, these two groups are experiencing a very different labor market.”

  MarketWatch May 14, 2021
• Millions Are Unemployed. Why Can’t Companies Find Workers?

  Other economists, including Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, say unemployment benefits’ disincentive effect is overstated. She said if there was a significant shortage of labor, employers wouldn’t be able to hire more than 900,000 workers in a month, as they did in March, and wages would be escalating at a much more rapid rate.

  Dr. Shierholz, who worked in the Obama administration, said the pandemic caused a huge disruption in the labor market and it will take time for the dust to settle.

  “And if the extended benefits mean some workers can take the time to find a job that’s a better match for their skills, and pays them a better wage, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” she said.

  The Wall Street Journal May 14, 2021
• More dads are choosing to stay at home with their kids. Will Covid-19 accelerate this trend?

  Currently, in 33 states and Washington, D.C., infant care is more expensive than college, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  CNBC May 14, 2021
• A year into Covid-19, Labor Department issues stall Vermonters’ efforts to collect unemployment

  Vermont has plenty of company in facing calls for unemployment insurance reform. Nationally, experts say the crisis has exposed deep problems in states’ unemployment systems.

  The problem was especially pronounced last spring. For every 10 people across the country who succeeded in lining up unemployment benefits in the first month of the pandemic, five to six more either tried and were unable to file a claim, or did not try to apply because it seemed too difficult, according to a study by the Washington, D.C-based Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.

  …

  “This is another part of the infrastructure in our country that needs to be updated, and we need to put resources into our systems so this doesn’t happen again,” said Elise Gould, an expert on wages and poverty at the Economic Policy Institute. “This is the kind of trouble that many people were facing in the past. But it happened so quickly when millions were claiming that it became clear to more people how broken the system was.”

  VT Digger May 14, 2021
• Column: Employers, governors push myth that unemployment checks keep lazy workers home

  “Employers simply don’t want to raise wages high enough to attract workers,” observes Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist for the Department of Labor who is now policy director at the labor-affiliated Economic Policy Institute. “I often suggest that whenever anyone says, ‘I can’t find the workers I need,’ she should really add, ‘at the wages I want to pay.’”

  LA Times May 14, 2021
• Calls to end pandemic unemployment benefits gain steam after disappointing jobs report

  While there is no single measure for workforce shortage, increased work hours and wages are considered some of the signs that indicate employers are struggling to fill jobs and the labor market is tightening, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Both occurred in April.

  Average weekly hours for workers in leisure in hospitality significantly increased in April, reaching 26.7 hours, up from its pre-pandemic levels of 25.8 hours in February 2020, according to data from the Labor Department.

  “If employers really can’t find the workers that they need, they’ll respond by ramping up the hours of the workers,” Shierholz told Yahoo Money.

  Yahoo Finance May 14, 2021
• Job market for new grads: Much hiring but much competition

  Even so, college seniors will be competing against a larger-than-usual universe of job seekers when you include last year’s crop of graduates.

  “Because there is a large pool of unemployed workers, companies can pick exactly who they want and skip over people with less experience,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Graduating into a recession has historically led to poor outcomes for many young people, with research showing that they sometimes bear long-running scars. Starting a career in a recession can lead to lower incomes for as long as a decade afterward for those graduates, compared with their peers who completed college just before or after a recession.

  Associated Press May 14, 2021
• At New England’s biggest companies, CEO paychecks surged in 2020 as revenues fell

  Perhaps it would be OK if the average American worker shared in the largesse, but they have been left behind. An analysis done by the Economic Policy Institute found the ratio of compensation between CEOs and their workers was 21-to-1 in 1965; by 2019, the ratio was 320 to 1.

  Boston Globe May 14, 2021
• Why Republicans are ready to kill the $300 pandemic unemployment boost

  “Hard to single out unemployment benefits as ‘dampening’ job growth in the lowest-wage industries when those same industries are the ones with the fastest job growth,” Ben Zipperer, economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, tweeted on Friday.

  CNN May 14, 2021
• South Carolina, Montana declining federal unemployment funds ‘a huge mistake,’ economists say

  South Carolina and Montana residents will be cut off from federal pandemic unemployment benefits next month, with Republican governors in each state claiming the payments have led to a workforce shortage. Economists say that’s not the case.

  “Employers are just angry that they are unable to find workers at relatively low wages,” Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, said in an interview. “The jobs being posted are more stressful, more risky, harder jobs than they were pre-COVID. … When the job is more stressful, then it should command a higher wage.”

  …

  Shierholz told ABC News that after the $600 bonus on unemployment expired at the end of July, “You should have seen a bump up in employment, and you can’t see that in the data so it just points to that it wasn’t really causing the labor supply effect. It’s just difficult to imagine that something half that big is having any effect now.”

  But a report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that a more likely reason some employers aren’t attracting workers is that many of these businesses are offering too-low wages. In a true labor shortage, the report states, wages will rise as does competition among employers. But wages aren’t growing — at least not quickly enough.

  ABC News May 14, 2021
• The U.S. Jobs Report Was A Surprise: Elise Gould

  Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed the U.S. added 266,000 jobs in April, far short of the 1 million gain economists had forecast. Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, talks with Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde, Romaine Bostick and Joe Weisenthal on “What’d You Miss?” about the growing pains as the economy rapidly reopens.

  Bloomberg TV May 14, 2021