Recent Work
Excluded Worker Fund Will Run Out of Money
October 7, 2021 (updated from October 4). The groundbreaking Excluded Worker Fund, which gives aid to people who are excluded from unemployment insurance benefits, has crossed the $1 billion mark, and stands at $1,148,078,400 as of October 4. That’s a huge benefit to workers - nearly all of them undocumented - in our state, and is helping people and local economies in all regions. Equally impressive: 99 percent of those who have been approved get $15,600, the higher of two benefit levels. This is designed to be roughly equivalent to what other workers got in unemployment insurance: real support that can [...]
Some Regions Lag in Excluded Worker Fund
October 4, 2021. New York State’s historic Excluded Worker Fund has been helping undocumented immigrants and others who were left out of unemployment compensation during the pandemic. According to data provided by the New York State Department of Labor last week, the fund - as predicted - is having an important positive impact on all regions of the state. The most important benefit of the Excluded Worker Fund is helping workers and their families, but the infusion of money into the community helps local economies around the state. As of last week, $953 million has been dispersed, and that will [...]
Millions of Dollars Help Immigrants and Boost the Local Economy Across NYS
Sept. 3, 2021. The first data is out: $250 million has already been issued to immigrants who lost work during the pandemic but were excluded from federal aid, and another $600 million is “undergoing final verification.” After just the first month, 50,000 people have already been found eligible, funds have been dispersed to over 10,000, and another 40,000 are in the final stages of the verification process. Equally impressive: 99 percent of those who have received the funds are approved for $15,600, the higher of two benefit levels. This is designed to be roughly equivalent to what other workers got [...]
NY’s Excluded Worker Fund is a Model for Other States – CBPP and EPI
Two national groups put a spotlight on FPI's work with the Fund Excluded Worker Coalition that resulted in $2.1 billion toward allowing undocumented immigrants to get something like what others in New York got in unemployment benefits and stimulus payments. This was a historic victory that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute are encouraging other states to follow! CBPP: Whitney Tucker, Deputy Director of Research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, pointed to the fund as a prime example of anti-racist measures in state budgets around the country, and also highlighted FPI's role [...]
FPI Testifies to Congress on Immigrant Businesses and Economic Recovery
The director of FPI's Immigration Research Initiative, David Dyssegaard Kallick, was invited to testify before the Congressional Small Business Committee about the role of immigrant businesses in the economic recovery after Covid. Kallick talked about two recovery scenarios: A Main Street-centered rebuilding that picks up on some innovations from the Covid period such as outdoor restaurants, expanded pedestrian areas, and bike paths that have transformed many downtowns and urban centers in very positive ways. This scenario would entail Main Streets as vibrant places where people meet, walk around, and poke into locally owned stores and restaurants. And immigrants would play [...]
Excluded Worker Fund Will Benefit 290,000 Undocumented New Yorkers and Boost Local Economies
The New York State Excluded Worker Fund passed in this year's budget at last provides a meaningful level of assistance to undocumented workers who have been excluded from major federal pandemic assistance. The $2.1 billion fund creates two tiers of aid. Tier 1 is on a rough par with unemployment insurance, and provides $15,600 to undocumented workers who can meet its strict standards of proof of eligibility. Tier 2 pays $3,200, and is on a par with the three rounds of federal stimulus payments ($1,200, $600, and $1,400). Statewide, the Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that 290,000 workers will benefit from the [...]
Legal Status for Undocumented Essential Workers: New York Gains
The Biden-Harris administration is being urged to grant legal status to the roughly 5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States who served as essential workers during the Covid pandemic. This is simply the right thing to do for people who have lived in this country for years and served heroically during a time of need. In this case, doing the right thing would also have economic benefits for immigrants who would newly have work authorization and for government revenues that would increase as well. A letter signed by over 60 experts, including me, explained what the economic benefits to [...]
After the Applause: Legal Status for Essential Workers
In the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic last spring, Americans embraced a new concept: Essential Workers. In many areas, we applauded for them every night at 7pm: they kept us going through this difficult period, and we knew they were taking a risk to their own health in doing it. We also knew that many of those workers are undocumented. In recognition of the service they provided to this country during a time of crisis, congress and the president should act today to give those undocumented essential workers legal status as part of the COVID pandemic relief package. A letter [...]
NYS Enhanced Services for Refugees: Now Is the Time to Expand
The New York State Enhanced Services to Refugees Program (NYSESRP) began in 2017 as a response to the federal government’s retreat from refugee resettlement. New York State was first in the nation to provide state funding to support refugee integration, a valuable investment in the refugees and asylees who call New York home. New York for Refugees—a coalition of refugee serving agencies, the Fiscal Policy Institute and the New York Immigration Coalition—seeks $5 million in the 2021 budget to expand NYSESRP and grow support for the integration of refugees and asylees into our communities. Click here for a 2-page brief [...]