Of the discussion. If you were recently unemployed, laid off, or furloughed, that line is 202 7488000. If you are currently employed, 202 7488001. If you are a Business Owner, that line is 202 7488002. We would really like to hear how this is affecting our business. For all others, the line is 202 7488003. Make sure to text us, including her name, where you are texting from. On twitter, we are at cspanwj, and on facebook we will look for your posts as well, facebook. Com cspan. This is the headline in the Washington Post this morning, jobless rates spike to 4. 4 as democrats and trump began to scramble for a new spending and stimulus. Workers, thee for worst is yet to come. By midyear, the nation will likely be suffering its highest Unemployment Rate in nearly 40 years and possibly the worst since the great depression. Bank of america says the jobless rate will hit 15. 6 . ,oldman sachs pegs it at 15 while the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 12 for the second quarter. You can read more about that at washingtonpost. Com. We are joined this morning by heather long, an economics correspondent for the washington ont, and back on with us washington journal primetime. The jobless rate in march, is this a surprise to anyone . Guest absolutely not. As a matter of fact, it really does not tell the whole story. If you have been reading the headlines in the last few days, people are wondering how it is the Unemployment Rate only at 4. 4 . What we saw in the last two weeks of march were close to 20 Million People 10 Million People getting laid off and filing initial unemployment claims, where you go to your state office and try to fill out the application on the website. In two weeks, we have basically wiped out nearly five years of job gains in this country. That is how phenomenal those numbers were and shocking, and very high. Think that the real Unemployment Rate right now is about 10 , some say a little higher than that. So that is that number that we havent seen since the great recession. Thathe reason that Unemployment Rate wasnt higher, the official Unemployment Rate wasnt higher in march is simply a matter of the data collection. That data is collected on march 12. March 12 was before the president declared a National Emergency, and it was a few days before the president said that you could not have more than 10 people gather at once. As soon as that announcement came out on march 16, that is when you started to see the mass closures of restaurants and bars and jims and bakeries and gyms and bakeries, and the number of people losing their jobs. What does fridays statistic for the Unemployment Rate for march, and the filing claims, the initial filing claims, almost 10 million americans filing for unemployment what do they tell us about where those jobs are being lost . Did shockt probably people the most, when we saw on thursday and friday, everybody be bigat there would layoffs in the hospitality sector, hotels, restaurants, and these types of establishments. But when you look at the data that came out, what you were seeing is just how this coronavirus recession is hitting nearly every sector of the economy, Even Health Care has job losses. You would think , everybody is gosh, everybody is going to the hospital, but these special teams, orthopedic stilln type offices are losing jobs. Across the economy,anufacturing was losing jobs even the transportation sector was reporting some job loss. Again, we think there are so many people ordering these goods online, there must be more trucks on the road, but these industries are being impacted. It shows you how you are having a chain effect across the economy. Host specifically on unemployment, the 2 trillion package passed a week ago i congress. How much money is in there for what duration . So there is two key parts. One, you are trying to get the money out as fast as possible. Another issue is that the money is just now getting out the door , so friday started the loans friday started, the loans began. You can go to bank of america or your Community Bank apply for a Small Business administration loan. That process is just beginning. But for a lot of workers i have been talking to, they have not even been able to file their Unemployment Benefits yet because there are so many people applying. If they have managed to file it, they have not received any money yet. Allotted hundreds of billions more to help these unemployed workers, but the money is not out the door yet. The somewhat good news is, this should provide additional Unemployment Benefits for about the next four months, but the typical unemployment check, when you apply in the United States before the pandemic, was just shy of 400. This money from congress, when it finally gets to states, will increase that weekly check by 600. Now we are talking close to anyone who isso losing their job should really be applying for this money, because it is a pretty substantial increase. Question onre quick that 2 trillion. We have had this question from people about Social Security recipients who do not usually file tax returns. They will be getting that 1200 in that package. We understand that is a reversal by the treasury department. Why did they reverse that decision . Guest thats correct. There is huge relief that the treasury did reverse their opinion on that, and the reason they did was from outcry from lawmakers across the political senators 41 democrats, sent a pretty serious letter to treasury and even some republicans reached out as well. I have heard from close to thousands of Social Security seniors and Social Security disabled who are worried about whether they would have to file a tax return when they dont normally do it. This is one instance where public pressure worked, and the government already has that data on file. Obviously they already send a monthly check, so they will send that 1200 payment to that population. Heather long, economics reporter for the Washington Post, we really appreciate you being up with us as morning area this morning. Thank you so much. This our conversation hour, your Employment Situation theow and how coronavirus situation has impacted that. Furloughed,aid off, or unemployed 202 7488000. If you are currently employed, 202 7488001. For Small Business owners, 202 7488002. Greg in midlothian, virginia. Good morning. Caller yes, i am a teacher and a lot of the kids are doing the Distance Learning. I noticed how much time i spend sitting in front of the computer, which is not always so healthy, and dealing with a lot of kids that have never had experience with Distance Learning before. So it has been quite a bit of work. Do end up spending a lot of time in front of the computer. Now are your classes moving to online with your kids . Caller they are. They have been for the past three or four weeks. Host what county, what district are you in in virginia a virginia . Caller im in Chesterfield County. Have County School officials giving you any indication of what is ahead . Are there potentially summer classes . Caller i actually teach at a private christian school, but the county has Chesterfield County has said that they are not going to grade any more assignments for the rest of the school year, so basically the school year for the county and for the city of richmond is basically over. Host greg, we appreciate that oh, go ahead. Finish up. Caller yeah, they announced that a couple days ago. Host we will hear from jaclyn next, philadelphia. Hi there. Caller hi, im calling from philadelphia. The mayor is mayor kenny, and it was not told to us that our trash would not be picked up, which was thursday for me. Today iseady two days, saturday. The trash is being pushed over into the streets. No one has said anything on the news. I feel like theyre just not doing their job. They can pick up the trash. Its a job, after all. Host any indication how bad is the covid19 in philadelphia . Any indication that the workforce in philly is really affected by this . The Government Workforce . Is, but there are some places that are still open, giving hope to people that are shopping. Line, butre was a that is because it was friday and people were getting paid. Im getting around pretty good at getting my food. To hear. D thank you for tuning in this morning. On facebook, a post from a lane, who says the lane el a aine, who says this i work in the legal field, the closing of courts and recording clerks has a huge effect and everything is harder if not impossible to accomplish. Today from the new york times, another story we are talking about this morning, new york pleads for outside help as deaths mount. Versed on the cdc and their guidance. Undercutting the cdc, the president says he will not wear masks. Fridaynt trump said on that the centers for Disease Control and prevention was urging all americans to wear a mask when they leave their homes, but immediately undercut the message by repeatedly calling the recommendation voluntary and promising that he would not wear one himself. Heres part of what President Trump had to say. [video clip] also, thetrump today cdc is announcing additional steps that americans can take against transmission of the virus. Knowrecent studies, we that the transmission from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood, so you do not seem to have symptoms and it still gets transferred. In light of these studies, the cdc is advising the use of nonmedical Face Covering as an additional, voluntary Public Health measures. It is voluntary. You dont have to do it. They suggested it for a period of time, but this is voluntary. I dont think im going to be doing it, but you have a lot of ways you can look at it, as follows. The cdc is recommending that americans where a basic cloth or fabric mask. They can be either purchased online or simply made at home, probably material that you would have at home. These Face Coverings can easily be washed or reused. I want to emphasize that the cdc is not recommending the use of medical grade or surgical grade masks, and we want that to be used for our great medical people that are working so hard and doing some job. Beical protective gear must reserved for the frontline healthcare workers that are performing those vital services. The new mask guidelines also do on replace cdcs guidelines social distancing, including staying in your home when possible, standing at least six timeapart for a period of again, we are all going to come back together here. We will all come back together. And practicing hand hygiene, which we should do anyway. A lot of things i think are shaking spillover hands, that will stay with our country for a long time beyond this. One of our great doctors was telling us that we have flus every year, and the number of People Killed by the flu is very substantial. He said that if they didnt shake hands, that number would be substantially lower. So maybe some of these things longterm will be good. But those guidelines are still the best in the state this week to avoid the infection. So with the masks, it will be a voluntary thing. You could do it, you do not have to do it. I am choosing not to do it, but some people might want to do it and that is ok. It is only a recommendation. It is voluntary. Host by the way, you can read more about the recommendation from the centers for Disease Control, cdc. Gov. They write that the cough face face masksoth recommended are not surgical masks. Those are critical supplies and continue to be reserved for Health Care Workers and byst responders as reported the cdc guidelines. Lubbock, west virginia. This is helen, recently unemployed. Sorry to hear that. Tell us about it . Caller im wondering if you are unemployed, not as a result of the coronavirus, if you are still eligible for the money and 13 weeks extension, and waving the oneweek waiting. Waiving the oneweek waiting period. Host if you are eligible for state unemployment insurance, i would guess that you are eligible for the extension as well. Caller all right. Thank you very much. Host were going to go to maryland, and i do not want to get your name wrong caller my name is [inaudible] i just want to make a comment, theyi do not think the cap put on people who make 120,000 should not get the 1200. People, thethat more money you make, the Higher Quality items you get. A bigger house, children go to private schools, so they get this money and they keep this money. Besides that, the government taxes the 120,000 you make, and basically you do not come back home with anything more than 70,000, 75,000. Excluding them from getting this 1200 is not a wise decision at all, because they are going to fall back in their mortgage payment, they are going to fall back in their credit card payments, and those payments are insured. The Insurance Industries will have a problem right now, and [inaudible] mortgage, loans the government mess. Out, it is just a the problem is when we do not elect people who understand how society works. It is a very big problem. , andthe 1200 to people some people who have never made 30,000, 40,000 in working on their lives should get 4000 every month. Do you think they are going to put the money back into the economy go they are not economy . They are not. They should look into adp or whatever system that pays the people and just pay them exactly what they make, or pay them the 1200 directly. [inaudible] thanks for calling him. We will go to scott next in san diego. Go ahead. Caller hi, good morning. I dont get to call washington journal very often, so this is a rarity. But i thought it was worth trying in from this chiming in from this side of the country. We are fortunate in san diego. The last numbers we saw, we had about 1100 cases and only 17 fatalities so far from this covid19 virus, so we are very fortunate in that regard. But its going to get worse. One question i have and then i will tell you my own personal youre old enough, i can tell, i think, that you remember in the 1990s and early 2000s when you could not turn around without having an aol disk in your mailbox for america online, or you would find that checkout counters at the Grocery Store, sometimes they would put them in the magazines. Everyone to be an aol subscriber and user. How is it the tests for this virus are not as legible and is readily available as aol discs were back in the day . That is my question, and maybe you dont know. Somebody knows and i wish they would tell us. I would like to know if i am a carrier, perhaps, without , ortoms who is not helping rather going out once a week for groceries and maybe infecting poor, innocent people. So there is that. Disabled for i was years under the rules of Social Security, so i got disability and Social Security, and a year ago i turned 65 and nothing really changed for me, i have a steady income, so i am glad we are supposedly going to get the 1200, because i will put that right back in the economy. For the most part, my Living Expenses are already handled by Social Security, so i can get out there and buy things. I am scott, correct me if wrong, the economy is pretty shut down in san diego, correct . Caller the Grocery Stores are open, and you will find other types of stores that are open. The malls are pretty much shot, and they werent doing all that well recently, what with online commerce. I wonder if they are going to come back. Like i say, having been disabled and not really an active person in society for the most part, nothing has really changed for me. I am homebound not a shut in, exactly, but i am homebound as it is. Host scott in san diego. Governor gavin newsom, one of the many briefings we have been covering regularly here in the past couple of weeks. Part of the briefing yesterday addressed the issue of the homeless in california. Heres what he said. [video clip] we are very pleased today with the partnership we have a, the partnerships and down the state, that we have identified roughly 7000 hotel rooms where we have occupancy agreements, and we are Building Partnerships throughout the state of california to begin to get folks into these sites. Rooms, to beel exact, are now in our possession. On our way to getting 15,000 in the phase one of our efforts. Fema, remarkably and to their credit, have created a template, first in the nation, in partnership with the state of california, where fema is providing 75 reimbursements for this project. This is first in the nation. Their support is profoundly significant to address this crisis headon. It is all around making sure that we address the most honorable californians with the kind of vulnerable californians with the kind of security and support. This focus is not limitless, by any stretch of the imagination. It is focused on individual homeless populations that have been exposed to the virus that specifically are deemed high risk, that would be our seniors on the streets and sidewalks and encampments and tents, and those that have tested positive for covid19. That is the bucket for reimbursement that fema has advanced. It is all around saving lives , as i suggest, particula