Publication Type: Resources

Blogs, reports, and data to help describe current labor market conditions, address the labor shortage narrative, and discuss the need for continued UI:

• Updated Jobwatch Workbook with “Job Deficit” chart, and a few other tweaks
• DOL’s ETA 203 data showing demographic characteristics of the insured unemployed, by state (attached)
• Josh Bivens and Heidi Shierholz blog post on the April jobs report and reports of labor shortages
• Twitter thread from EPI Senior Economist Heidi Shierholz describing reports of labor shortages
• Post and data from TCF Senior Fellow Andy Stettner post on What’s at Stake As States Cancel Federal Unemployment Benefits
• Blog post from Sebastian Hickey with state-level data on UI dollars as a share of state personal incomes and federal programs’ share of total UI by state
• Quarterly state unemployment rates by race/ethnicity – scroll down for the 2020Q4 data; you might apply the 2020Q4 ratio of a particular race/ethnicity’s unemployment rate to the overall rate to current state Urates to get a sense of conditions for that group now

Statements and blog posts responding to states pulling out of federal UI supplements:

• Missouri Jobs with Justice Statement
• Montana Budget Project blog post
• Common Good Iowa Statement
• Op-ed by KY Policy’s Jason Bailey, “This One Weird Trick Will Help Kentucky Employers Find Workers”
• AZ Center for Economic Progress Statement
• Senator Sanders’ Statement to the Treasury

Other potentially useful reports and data:

• CA Policy Lab report overview “10 Key Trends from the Unemployment Crisis in California and their Implications for Policy Reform” #9 here has share of UI recipients in CA who are receiving partial benefits for PT work.
• RE: the question about the “natural” rate of unemployment, here’s Josh Bivens’ article on failings of the unemployment rate and EPI comments on a SNAP work requirements rule that discusses how the “natural rate of unemployment” provides no useful empirical guidance for policymakers
• EPI Webinar “Prosecutions of wage theft and other employer crimes“
• FL Policy Institute report “Florida Policymakers Need to Reassess How the Minimum Wage is Enforced“
• VA Commonwealth Institute: “Taking Stock and Looking Forward: Virginia’s Economy and Policies to Build a Stronger Future”
• Talk Poverty explainer: “Unemployment Benefits Aren’t Creating a Labor Shortage, They’re Building Worker Power“
• Groundwork Collective: “Unemployment Insurance is an Essential Lifeline for Workers, Families, and the Economy“

News Articles Mentioned:

• West Palm Beach TV (WBTV Florida): Work requirements added for those continuing to receive UI
• Washington Post: The risk to the unemployed