There was an armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol yesterday in which the police were complicit in a way that has everything to do with structural racism. And that is not our only crisis. I'm going to cover the UI data, which shows a labor market in turmoil as COVID surges. 0/

Wednesday’s violence is deeply upsetting. Lawmakers engaging in civil debate to certify the next President soon found themselves lying on the floor under barricade. Violence is not the answer. This is not what America stands for.

Reflecting on 2020, here is some perspective on the scale of the labor market crisis as measured by nation-wide claims for unemployment benefits (going back several decades).

@ElizaForsythe Elizabeth Pancotti Richard Freeman has a short piece on advice for doing empirical economics with a great point on this (and others) that has stuck with me. Lawrence Katz used to assign this at the start of his PhD labor course (I do in mine now).

Great thread on recent research findings on minimum wage.

Excellent analysis & takeaways from 2020's pandemic-related economic policies by Kathryn Anne Edwards!

🚨New Data Point from California Policy Lab🚨 (Me, Till von Wachter, Alex Bell & Geoff Schnorr) The share of un/under-employed Californians receiving regular UI benefits has risen substantially over the course of the crisis- from just over 50% in April to ~90% by the end of 2020. 🧵

“We have solidly shifted into a world where a large-scale problem of long-term unemployment is now a reality,” Till von Wachter said. Via Ben Casselman: nytimes.com/live/2021/03/1…

Nearly 1 in 5 Californians have claimed UI for more weeks than not over the past year. Our new measure of Long-Term Unemployment accounts for high churn. More on this & the latest by me, TJ Hedin, Roozbeh Moghadam, Geoff Schnorr, & Till von Wachter here: bit.ly/UIreportCalifo…

New Report: UI Extended Benefits turned off too early in 33 states/territories due to gov's outdated measure of unemployment, which does not count jobless workers paid through extensions. My full analysis w/ TJ Hedin, Geoff Schnorr, and Till von Wachter: bit.ly/ExtendedBenefi…

Why have Extended Unemployment Benefits already "turned off" in 33 states? New report by Alex Bell TJ Hedin, Geoff Schnorr, and Till von Wachter: bit.ly/ExtendedBenefi… Thread (1/x)

Why doesn't it? ~~Ronald Reagan~~ (no, really) research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewconten… (p. 9)

Today is the 1 year anniversary of CPL's 1st UI Report, released April 29th, 2020. Since then, our team (Alex Bell TJ Hedin Roozbeh Moghadam, Geoff Schnorr, & Till von Wachter) has written 15 more pieces, shedding light on the unemployment crisis in real time. Thread: (1/14)

*Hiring Alert* We (California Policy Lab's UCLA team) are hiring a Data Analyst w/ a background in labor economics. The analyst will work with me + our team to study the labor market by leveraging CPL's access to multiple sources of administrative data capolicylab.org/careers/data-a… #EconTwitter

Remarkable data and exposé on access to unemployment insurance in Georgia during the pandemic. bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-…

*Alert* New research finds sig. differences in access to unemployment benefits during pandemic. Research was funded by U.S. Department of Labor's Summer Equity Challenge. Authors: Alex Bell TJ Hedin Peter Mannino, Roozbeh Moghadam, Geoffrey Schnorr Till von Wachter. bit.ly/AccesstoUI (1/10)

NEW 🚨 We just released the #RecoveryReports, a collection of four reports examining key aspects of some of the most important public policy decisions in 2020 and 2021, from the Child Tax Credit to the Paycheck Protection Program.

A great read: my latest piece on early evidence surrounding pandemic spending programs, just released as part of Equitable Growth's new series "The Recovery Reports." See the full series here equitablegrowth.org/the-recovery-r…

In 2020 and 2021, the U.S. government responded to an unprecedented public health emergency with unprecedented investments in income supports. Researchers moved quickly to study the effect of these investments. Too fast, in fact, for most of us to digest their conclusions! 1/15