Bryce Covert
brycecovert.bsky.social
Bryce Covert
@brycecovert.bsky.social
Journalist writing about the economy. Contributing writer at @thenation.com, @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social National Fellow, and member of @fspnwu.bsky.social. Send tips to brycecovert@protonmail.com or on Signal: brycecovert.25 she/her
Pinned
Are you facing unfair or unsafe conditions at work? Have you been denied a government benefit or run into arbitrary barriers? You can always send me a tip: brycecovert@protonmail.com
Reposted by Bryce Covert
The people who live in the South Shore building that was violently raided in the middle of the night by federal agents are forming a tenants union. Here are their demands, per a press release that just went out.
November 21, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Not only was he wrong, but if we had gotten what he was clamoring for--mass unemployment to bring down inflation--the suffering would have been so, so much worse
A fascinating bit here is that Summers was wrong, as this story notes: "His predictions were wrong: The annual inflation rate dipped below 3 percent by the end of Biden’s term without a recession."
The decline and fall of Larry Summers's Acela corridor empire www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
NEW: Mississippians still have not received their full SNAP benefits more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to problems with a 40-year-old computer system running on COBOL.

And there is no guarantee they'll get them before Thanksgiving—or even by December.
Mississippians Still Waiting on Full SNAP Benefits
Mississippi SNAP recipients are still waiting for full payments more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to technical issues.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 AM
What the hell are we doing
November 21, 2025 at 12:53 PM
It begins: now that the EEOC has a Republican quorum, it's filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit on behalf of some guy who says he didn't get promoted because of his company's DEI program www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeo...
EEOC Files Subpoena Enforcement Action Against Financial Services Giant Northwestern Mutual Over Allegations of DEI-Related Discrimination
MILWAUKEE – The U.S.
www.eeoc.gov
November 20, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
We finally have jobs numbers out this morning from September and take a look at this: big jump again in Black women's unemployment, now 7.5% from 6.7% in August.

This figure has been ticking up all year. This is now the highest unemployment rate Black women have faced in 4 years, since mid-2021.
November 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
There was a brief moment in early 2024 when the persistent gap between Black and white unemployment was the smallest on record. Now we're back to an economy where Black unemployment is roughly double that of white workers.
The household survey is a useful read on the labor market for various demographic groups. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, its highest since 2021. While a more volatile series, the data show high Black unemployment, holding steady at 7.5% in September, and 1.5 ppts higher than May.
#EconSky
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
It seems to have gotten lost in the MeToo backlash but sexual harassment is in fact illegal
November 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
"A 10% increase in the price of childcare leads to a 5.7% decrease in the birth rate" abigaildow.com/assets/docs/...
abigaildow.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Texas's abortion ban killed this child's mother
November 19, 2025 at 2:07 PM
There's a lot about this that's fucked up, but moving children's education to the Labor Department underscores such a warped idea of what education is actually for www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump administration launches plan to dismantle Education Department
The department will shift responsibility for several of its core functions to other federal agencies.
www.politico.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:50 PM
“We live in a hell made possible in no small part by Summers’ influence.” This is a perfect reminder of all the other terrible things Larry Summers has done. theintercept.com/2025/11/18/l...
theintercept.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Important to remember the lives of the people Epstein preyed upon who should be at the heart of all of this 19thnews.org/2025/11/epst...
‘This is who you’re fighting for’: Epstein survivors push for justice for their younger selves
The survivors spoke at the Capitol ahead of a House vote that seeks to compel the Justice Department to release files about the convicted sex offender.
19thnews.org
November 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Over 100 childcare programs in Indiana have closed after the state froze voucher enrollment and deeply cut reimbursement rates www.the74million.org/zero2eight/i...
Indiana Child Care Providers Struggle to Stay Open After State Slashes Rates
With a freeze on child care voucher applications and cuts to reimbursement rates, Indiana child care providers are left reeling.
www.the74million.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:14 PM
This is, shall we say, quite relevant at the moment!
📣 New NBER Working Paper out today 📣

"The Consequences of Faculty Sexual Misconduct"
Sarah Cohodes & Katherine Leu
November 18, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Stepping back from commitments... but still teaching at Harvard after emails revealed him using mentorship to extract sex from a student www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Summers To Step Back from Public Commitments Amid Epstein Scandal | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawerence H. Summers will step back from all public commitments in an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” he wrote in a statement...
www.thecrimson.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
When states like Colorado passed policies requiring employers to disclose salary information in job postings, what happened?

It increased competition, and raised wages, without harming employment or changing skill requirements.

Improved functioning of markets, helped workers.
November 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
Summers conferred with Epstein frequently about how to extract sexual favors from a Harvard econ grad (AB '04, PhD '09)

The grad is from China

Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"

Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package

bit.ly/3LHpin8
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
bit.ly
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Every year, tens of thousands of children are taken from their families because their parents can't afford decent housing. Most child welfare agencies do virtually nothing to help them even as the affordable housing crisis worsens. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
“Nobody Blames the Landlord. They Just Take Away the Kids.”
All too often, when parents can’t afford safe housing, the solution child welfare services offer is putting their children in foster care.
www.thenation.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
He Vowed to “Protect the Unborn.” Now He’s Blocking a Bill to Expand Medicaid for Wisconsin’s New Moms. By @megomatz.bsky.social
He Vowed to “Protect the Unborn.” Now He’s Blocking a Bill to Expand Medicaid for Wisconsin’s New Moms.
Splitting with anti-abortion members of his own party, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has refused to join 48 other states in ensuring that vulnerable women have access to potentially lifesaving ...
www.propublica.org
November 17, 2025 at 12:43 PM
This is what happens when you don't introduce a new rule until the last year of a president's term www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/t...
White House Scraps Cash Payments for Delayed or Canceled Flights
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
Just because the shutdown has ended doesn't mean that people will automatically get their food aid. Antiquated systems are stressed from being turned off and on again, writes @emmarjanssen.bsky.social, and it could take weeks to resolve:
prospect.org/2025/11/14/s...
The Shutdown Is Over. SNAP’s Struggles Aren’t. - The American Prospect
Turning off the logistically complicated SNAP system—which relies on the federal government, states, and private companies to function in concert—and then trying to turn it back on quickly is no easy ...
prospect.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Bryce Covert
As I read this, I'm thinking about the man I interviewed who had to be hospitalized from the Covid he caught at the poultry processing plant and he got fired for it and he still has long Covid
During the height of the pandemic, Tyson used Palantir to predict Covid-19 infections among meatpacking workers down to a nearly exactly figure. But rather than using this data to increase worker protections, Tyson used it plan for labor shortages + plant closures
My latest for @sentientmedia.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Starbucks workers are on strike in 40 cities today. The coffee shop union movement they helped inspire is now everywhere: www.bonappetit.com/story/barist...
America's Baristas Are Brewing Up a Labor Movement
From union victories at local coffee institutions to the campaigns at giants like Starbucks, this grassroots movement is fundamentally reshaping the service industry.
www.bonappetit.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:52 PM