Latest jobs report for June reveals pre-existing inequality in U.S. labor market worsening amid coronavirus recession
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The latest jobs numbers released by the federal government today indicate the brunt of the job losses due to the coronavirus recession continue to fall heaviest on Black and Latinx workers, even though the month-on-month changes between May 2020 and June 2020 were better overall. Over those 2 months…
The coronavirus recession highlights the importance of automatic stabilizers
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Overview In February 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5 percent. In May 2020, it stood at 13.3 percent. The unemployment rate for Black workers was a still-higher 16.8 percent. Unemployment for women exceeded that for men overall, among Black workers and among White workers. Adjusting for clas…
A feminist economic policy agenda in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the quest for racial justice
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The displays of solidarity among Black Lives Matter protesters and frontline healthcare workers across the United States over the past month demonstrate the underlying links between multiple crises involving public health, the economy, and racial justice. The COVID-19 pandemic shines a bright light…
New analysis shows state paid leave programs cushioned the blow of COVID-19, sparking important new questions
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Overview New analysis shows that while Congress was busy debating the parameters of federal paid leave to families dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, state paid leave programs in Rhode Island and California were already at work providing much-needed support to affected workers. Because of longstand…
The coronavirus recession is an opportunity to cancel all U.S. student loan debt
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This past March, as a coronavirus relief measure, Congress suspended payments on a lion’s share of federally owned student loans for 6 months. When this temporary loan forbearance expires on September 30, it should be extended—permanently. Many borrowers will not be prepared to begin making payments…
Equitable Growth webinar will explore bold policies to ensure a broad-based economic recovery
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The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic recession have exposed and exacerbated many systemic inequalities in U.S. society, especially for Black and Latinx families. Even after a decade of growth following the end of the Great Recession in 2009, with low inflation and historically low unemp…
Equitable Growth and The Hamilton Project bring together policymakers and academics to discuss how to fight the coronavirus recession
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At a June 8 online event sponsored by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and The Brookings Institution’s The Hamilton Project, key policymakers and academics discussed how the coronavirus recession is causing the loss of record numbers of jobs, threatening businesses nationwide, worsening ex…
In Conversation with Mehrsa Baradaran
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Overview “Equitable Growth in Conversation” is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and stability. In this installment, Equitable Growth Policy Director Amanda Fischer talks with…
How the coronavirus recession is impacting part-time U.S. workers
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The coronavirus recession continues to highlight and deepen the structural inequities that have long made the U.S. economy so fragile. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Employment Situation Summary—also known at the Jobs Report—the unemployment rate fell from 14.7 percent in April…
Moving from Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to a job losers’ stimulus program amid the coronavirus recession
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Overview The coronavirus recession is shattering businesses and dramatically increasing unemployment, which hit 14.7 percent in April 2020, the highest level since 1948.313 So far, the federal government has delivered a one-time cash stimulus to most households and increased the amount of unemployme…