Unemployment Insurance Part 2
6/12/20
The battle between Democrats and Republicans concerning the scope and design of additional Covid-related support payments rages on. I’m particularly focused on the considerations relating to extending unemployment benefits.
The initial CARES Act supplemented unemployment insurance with an added $600 per week, with that provision expiring by the end of July. Given that time line, congress is now debating how or whether this benefit would/should be extended.
My first reaction to this incremental funding was that it seemed to tacitly acknowledge that the size of the unemployment benefit is simply too parsimonious; but if that’s truly the case, why wouldn’t congress make the adjustment on a permanent basis? It seems to me that whether unemployment arises in connection with the pandemic or from some alternative consideration, the financial outcome for the unemployed is the same. Why two different payment amouts?
Be that as it may, the current concern voiced by the Republicans is that the incrementally higher level of insurance serves as a disincentive for work. In fact, from first hand knowledge I can attest that there’s some truth to that statement. Still, the focus on the relatively small percentage of people able to exploit this feature dwarfs the much larger population of people for whom the added benefit is a lifeline. I’ve got to believe that those who fall into former category had been at or near minimum wage. Heaven forbid that people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder might actually get a chance to breath just a little easier. Somehow, the incongruity of concern for abuse in this section of the CARES Act doesn’t jibe with the much more cavalier manner in which the Payroll Protection Program doled out money without any consideration of the net worth of the recipients.
I’m most incensed by the harebrained idea put forth by Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) [@robportman]. He’s proposing a back-to-work bonus. The hell with the people who remain out of work. Let’s dip into the public coffer to give a $450 bonus payment to people to manage to get back on the job and off unemployment. Representative Kevin Brady (R-Texas) [@RepKevinBrady] wants to go one better, allowing people who rejoin the labor force to continue to receive their supplemental $600 per week unemployment checks for the first two weeks on the job — a benefit worth $1,200 per individual.
It’s hard to understand this callous prioritization of working people relative to those suffering the effects of unemployment, the vast majority of whom are desperate to work and facing excruciating financial pressure. These people are way more in need of financial support than those who’ve managed to resume at least some measure of normalcy. Portman and Brady and their ilk are woefully out of touch. Their lack of empathy and distrust of people suffering with the ravages of unemployment is shameful.
