Unemployment: Not Just for the Unlucky Anymore
- Opinion by Kurt Staudter–
“Very few people would choose work over unemployment benefits that provided moderately more money.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, and adding at another event on extending those benefits, “Over our dead bodies!”
The South Carolina Republican may get his wish concerning dead bodies if his citizens continue to reopen the state beaches without masks and social distancing. I get it that we’re all getting a little crazy over this COVID-19 Crisis, and just itching to get back to whatever passes for normal into the future, but for the time being what little we’re doing for those of us that are unemployed is literally the very least we can do. This pandemic has also exposed how neglected and under resourced our state unemployment offices are, and the gaping divide between those at the lowest rungs of our economic ladder and the oligarchs that control every aspect of our greedy society.
So many of us are now asking the question: How do we leave the Corona virus behind us while creating a better country? We’re certainly spending unprecedented sums of money that could set the stage for a new and more prosperous United States, but instead President Trump and the Republicans in Congress are figuring new and creative ways to fleece the treasury for fun and profit. Just look at all the corporate logos and shout-outs when The Donald does a Rose Garden presser. What Senator Graham is talking about, and also claims was a mistake when the stimulus bill was written, is the extra $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits that bolsters the state payments. The fact that anyone complains about this in the face of the trillions given in tax breaks to very rich and hugely profitable corporations – It’s sort of like complaining about the poor with their mouth full of a good rib eye.
Here in Vermont unemployment insurance has a cap of $513 per week, and now add to that the $600 from the feds and you’ve weekly pay of $1113 or around $58,000 per year. This extra $600 is expected end in July unless it’s extended by congress. According to Graham and many business owners, why would a worker want to come back to a job that pays just a fraction of what they’re getting paid to stay home? As the state slowly turns the spigot of reopening, this puts both the employers and the employees in a tight spot. As an employer are you really expecting some of your best employees to be happy about returning to work for less than they get paid on unemployment, and for the employees, how can they expect to get paid more from an employer that’s been shuttered for the last three months?
At the lowest parts of the economic pyramid small businesses and low wage employees share a very tenuous existence where both the owners and the workers toil for a very tiny slice of the pie. When the smoke clears after this crisis don’t expect these people to be part of the recovery. Favorite shops and restaurants that were once the soul of our communities and run by generations of local families will be gone forever, and if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll be deemed worthy for a Dollar General and yet another purveyor of corporate fast food. They were after all deemed essential during this crisis, and even paid their workers an extra a buck and hour for hazard pay!
Right now this pandemic has left more than one-in-five American workers unemployed, and that’s just the official count which is largely worthless. Remember: The unemployment figures don’t include those that are underemployed and have to work more than one job to make ends meet, or those that have run out of benefits while still unemployed: The almost 40 million new unemployment claims that have been filed since the crisis began is just the tip of the iceberg. The stink you smell is the underlying rot that festers in a capitalistic economy where greed is unfairly rewarded over honest labor. Now is the time we need to change this warped paradigm.
According to Senator Bernie Sanders, “Republicans, correctly, see these expanded unemployment benefits as an unprecedented threat to an economy which thrives on low-wage labor — where half of our workers live paycheck to paycheck. Think about it. If workers get used to a decent income, how can employers bring them back to jobs that keep them living in poverty?” With our low wage economy, and small businesses competing with megastores, you’d think this is a Catch-22, but it isn’t. Sanders continues, “Here is the truth: The issue is not whether people are receiving more income through their unemployment benefits. The problem is that in America today millions of people make starvation wages. It is past time to create a living wage in this country.”
You want to talk about leaving the country in a better place after COVID-19, let’s start a meaningful conversation about creating better paying jobs with a guaranteed livable wage. Oh, and for all of those folks that lost their healthcare when they became unemployed, how about quality universal single payer healthcare for starters?
