The pandemic and the governments response. Good morning, good to have you with us. Guest thank you for having me. Of the size of the response in terms of the unemployment aid offered by the federal government. What have they provided . Guest it is very shocking that the stock market did not completely crash and that unemployment continues to decline month after month since the initial large increase attributable to the pandemic. I think in terms of an employment insurance specific, the pandemic Unemployment Insurance covered people who would not have had access and the pandemic unemployed compensation, the extra 600 added enough money so that people had funds to spend to keep the economy and themselves afloat. Michele evermores piece, how much extra money is this providing for the unemployed . Guest the assistants provide an extra 600. Congress decided if the economy was going to be deliberately shut down to prevent the spread of the virus, 100 of income should be replaced. Calculateally hard to for state computers. What they did was figured that the average weekly benefit was week and ther average weekly wage is 970 and the difference is 600 will give everyone the average difference between what insurance covers and what they were making before. Host when is that set to expire . Guest it expires july the first. Oris going to end on july 25 26 because that is the benefit we ending before july 31. What do we know about what was paid to the unemployed . Applied soany people quickly at an unprecedented level that even trust funds are likely to run out. So far over 10 states have applied for federal loans because their fund has either run out or it is close to running out. I anticipate that will be the case in most states. But if it runs out, do not worry. You still get a benefit. The state will have to borrow from the government. Are getchele evermore, to talk about the response of the pandemic. If you are recently unemployed, 202 7488000 and all others 202 7488001. You can send us a text at 202 7488003. You mentioned that july 31 date. Orthere any expectation anticipation of extending that date and adding additional federal funding . Guest i think there is a strong chance that congress will have something to extend the benefit at some level. ,f congress does not act several economists have said that the economy really does stand the chance of faltering once people are suddenly falling off of this cliff of collecting the extra 600. The thing that people do not realize is that over the last decade, states have really eroded regular Unemployment Insurance benefits to the point where they are not sufficient in terms of keeping people afloat at all. In places like louisiana, mississippi, people will drop to 214 a 14 214. O the Unemployment Rate falling for the month of june. In terms of that claim, because of the resurgence of the virus in some states, is it too early to tell about additional layoffs and additional claims filed because of the additional resurgence in states across the country . Guest we are certainly not out of the woods yet. As some states have had to reclose because they opened too early, that we will see additional claims. To put those numbers in perspective, between the regular Unemployment Insurance and pandemic Unemployment Insurance claims, that is still over 2 million per week. 2 million per week. The highest week on average before the pandemic was 695,000 1942. In october host tom, go ahead. Caller i was going to say, for people who do not work from home and are locked out of being able to earn an income, an employment is imperative. If you look at the depression from 1929, what is the alternative . If we did not continue supporting vaccines. It is such a favorable outlook for a vaccine being ready by the end of this year, certainly by the end of next year. To me the intelligent thing is to provide support for the populace at large until vaccine is ready. Thank you. Guest absolutely. I totally agree with you. Without Unemployment Insurance, it was established in 1935 as a response to the great depression. Not just to give people a benefit when they become unemployed, but as an economic stabilizer to keep one sector in the economy from crashing and spreading to every other sector in the economy. Host jamie is on the line for recently unemployed. Good morning. Unemployed because of the coronavirus is so bad in. Irmingham ofdont have too much nothing. In selma, everything is going down. The people are moving away from selma. That causes no jobs. I have been going through this for long time. Happeningring what is with our congresspeople and are president. Host are you currently getting Unemployment Benefits . Caller no, sir. I am not getting it. I went on file for my disability. That came through. Host michele evermore . Guest im glad you have been able to get your disability benefits. In alabama, it is a state that i am concerned about because the average weekly benefit is 230 per week. It is another one of those states where people will not be able to afford to live in the cities. When people lose the ability to pay their rent, that starts to spiral out of control. As rent defaults, foreclosures happen and the economy gets worse. It is a real pain for people to wages exist at poverty when they are out of work for something that is totally not their fault. Host how important do you think the Payroll Protection Program in been in all of this trying to keep people employee, trying to continue to pay employees . Guest i think the pbp program program. Ant ppp we hear continually that there is some sort of disadvantage to work in Unemployment Insurance benefits. What we have seen is people really want to get back to work. They are the people looking harder for the jobs and more likely to take jobs. To the extent that people can work, that is wonderful. Host here is joe from North Carolina. Morning. Caller good morning. 8 miles away from myrtle beach. If you drive up and down highway 17, all of the restaurants are begging for people. All of the Retail Stores are begging for people. Construction is begging for people. But you cannot fault these people on sitting on their backside when their average wage would be taking home about 400 per week when they could make 600 extrak from the you are getting them. Who would want to do that . That is called unjust enrichment. These people that you say, they want to go to work no they dont. This is so terrible that you go along with this nonsense. The one opponent bureau should go ahead and say, call them up, i have a job for you the unemployment bureau. Host michele evermore, you touched on that a moment ago. Do you want to expand your thoughts on what the caller said . About ifat you said somebody gets called back to work and refuses, they should not get insurance benefits, that is actually the law. People cannot refuse a job that is suitable if they are offered it. However, one thing to keep in mind is that a job offer of suitable work has to be safe work. People come back to work where they will be exposed to the virus and they have reason to refuse that work, but only in that circumstance. The other thing is there definitely is more to a job than a paycheck. People want stability. Everybody knows that after the pandemic ends, the economy is likely to magically get better overnight. Not going to magically get better. Study that fed did a shows that workers are more likely to look for work if they are on Unemployment Insurance because they have access to employment services. They have support to look for work. Over 45 Million People filed a claim. The Unemployment Rate is only 11 . I remember in june everyone was shocked that the Unemployment Rate was not over 20 based on initial claims. The numbers are there to show that people actually are going back to work. Host you mentioned the june number, 11. 1 when those numbers were announced on thursday. The Vice President on cnbc talked about that. He also talked about the idea of expanding those benefits under the coronavirus response. Here is what he said. [video clip] the Administration Position has been that you dont want to extend the benefits that currently expire at the end of this month. His deposition changing at all . Does the is that position changing at all . You have heard the president say, we have a real concern about creating an unintended incentive for people to stay on the sidelines. Unemployment many believe is contributed to that. These numbers today, people are coming off of the sideline and the increase in labor but as the patient is encouraging. Reallyt rescue package needs to focus on growth and getting people back in the workforce and growing this economy. That is why we want to deal with issues like a payroll tax cut which will put money in the pockets of working the organs working americans immediately. We think Liability Protection is critical as businesses adhere to state, local, and cdc guidance that they would be able to do that without fear of an avalanche of lawsuits that would stifle our economy. All of those policies would be what we look at. The most important thing is that the next rescue package provides support for families and creates the incentives that keep this economy growing strong as evidenced in the job numbers today. Your thoughts on the key tax cuts and the business Liability Protection as mentioned by the Vice President . Are theeither of those stimulative measures that help the economy in the way it needs assistance right now. Problems forates future insolvency, social security, and medicare. Liability protection against employers could post Serious Problems for workers. Right now it is imperative that we keep workers safe. If we dont, we see the virus sped out of control. There are already increases in the spread. People are being asked to go back to unsafe work. Anything that we do to make it to requireemployers workers to do work that is not safe for them imperils us all. Willya question for you, selfemployed will the selfemployed continue to work, especially those who have a lot of their income at fairs and festivals that have been canceled . Employmentpandemic assistance will remain in effect until september 21. We have been working with congress to make sure those benefits are extended as long as the economy needs it. We hope to see in the next package automatic extenders for all the programs. Beyond even the december 31 end date. September 31 end date. Host just checking the numbers. 10. 1 for the nation. Hispanic. Came. 4 15. 4 according to the bureau of labor statistics. Lets hear from susan in jamestown new york. Big concernve a about the 600 per week of employment. Alsof the people are getting hundreds in foodstamps. The Free Lunch Program is wonderful for the children. This money is being wasted like there is no tomorrow. They do not want to go back to work. The stores are hurting. They cannot get the proper change to give their customers because the banks do not have it because the paychecks are not going into the bank because the businesses are not open. Michele, do you have any response . Guest one thing to keep in mind about uninsurance pandemic insurance is the chicago what thesiness prospects are if we dont do you and the prospect is gloomy. Unemployment insurance spending generates local spending. During the height of the last recession, every dollar spent in Unemployment Insurance benefits generated local activity. That is why you have not seen the Housing Market crash. That is why you have not seen Consumer Spending drop. That is why states are still connecting collecting tax revenue unlike what we have seen before and they have not had as many people as they could have ended up having to lay off. The 600 is not just helping people who are getting that benefit. It is helping everyone. Host here is weighed in south. Good morning. De caller i think the people that are saying that unemployment help is not it are probably already retired and do not need assistance. I have been selfemployed all my life. I have never had any government assistance up until now. I did get the unemployment. It is so much help. Without it, i would have lost my home and pretty much reading i have worked for. Repair. Is in home i stayed busy all my life doing it. In the last four months, i have not had two calls. Without it, i would surely lose everything i have worked for and i am so appreciative of having it. I hope it extends. It needs to until we get a vaccine or something so my phone can start ringing so i can go back to work. I do have Underlying Health issues. But if my phone is ringing, i will be going back to work. I have a heart aneurysm and high blood pressure. Host you say you have never gotten government assistance before. How hard was the process to get unemployment through South Carolina and apply for the pandemic unemployment . State i applied for the first and it took about four weeks and i was denied of that, which i expected that. Then it automatically kicked me over to federal and i applied for it and it took about three or four more weeks. But two weeks ago i did start to receive benefits and i was so glad because i have gotten far from being actually out of money, unfortunately. Host thank you for your experience. Michele evermore . Guest thank you for calling in. I think that some people are hesitant to apply for Unemployment Insurance because they think of it as something that maybe they did not earn. Actually it is an earned benefit. It is based on how much you have heard before. It is like saying you have gotten into a car crash and you are not going to use your Auto Insurance because it is your money. It is not, really. It is something we all pay into. If we have Unemployment Insurance, we have paid into it with taxes. I am glad you have gotten your benefit. Host also in South Carolina is john. The morning. Caller good morning. Can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Caller i am from South Carolina and i am a union worker. I worked all over the country. I worked in michigan. Last year alone, i worked in alabama, illinois, pennsylvania, and michigan. With this corona, maybe one week before i was scheduled to go on a job in atlanta, i believe it was a 20 week job, due to corona, the job was canceled. Worker, i onlyn work periods out of the year. The money i would have made would have taken me through the summer time until winter starts to come and then i will go back to work. Gave,600 bonus that they if it were not for that, i would be on the streets even though i made decent money. You still need to make money regularly to have a life. I am from South Carolina. I am all around the state. I am all around a lot of states. I heard a general rent call and say gentlemen call and say there are jobs everywhere. That is not true. I have been to myrtle beach three times this month and i definitely do not see jobs holding up a sign saying, come on and work, i am begging you to work. I need a certain pay scale. If it came down to it where i would have to work a job that is lower as far as this whole thing about people begging you to come on in and there are jobs everywhere, that is not true. That money is helping people survive at least until they can get a hold of what is going on. And i have one question also. As of right now, i have two checks left in unemployment. They will be making a decision in the next week or two. I want to know what theyre going to do because i deal with all works of like all works of life. Different ages, different races. I have been contacting friends through facebook and they are all telling me that im going to lose this, im going to lose that. , they mightyment make 70,000 per year. Even with the unemployment, they are not making enough to pay their bills. If you take that away, what are they going to do so that is their question. Host we appreciate you calling in. Michele evermore. Guest there is a strong chance that congress will extend the benefit. There are a couple of proposals. They are supposed to extend the 600 through the end of january 2021. In the senate, senator schumer ad others have proposed step down approach. ,nce employment gets below 11 becomesdollars 600 500 as a compromise to start backing down as jobs become available. Experience, iur would say it is important for people to know that if somebody belongs to a union, they are twice as likely to apply for and receive Unemployment Insurance benefits. What that says to me is that there is somebody telling me telling you what your rights are. I think one take away from that is that people who do not think they are eligible should rethink that in this period. A lot more people are eligible. Host a comment for you about who sins is ali text. The real numbers will not be seen until august. With no extension in site and business not picking up as expected, without any additional unemployment support, we will see major problems in august. The congress did extend the ppp until the end of august, correct . Expert. Am not an another thing i will point out is that there is an option for employers called work sharing. If an employer can only pull people back parttime or only pull back some of the workforce, they have the option to apply for shortterm compensation or work sharing which would spread the work loss across the workforce and all of the workers would get an Unemployment Insurance benefit and they would get additional compensation which is currently 600 which would hopefully remain at 600 through the end of the year until the Public Health crisis passes. O host go ahead and finish your thought. Guest it is very helpful for employers. Host we will hear from janet in cincinnati. Caller hello. I am a school bus driver. The first week i thought of drawing unemployment, i did not receive the 600. I have been unemployment ever since march 16 unemployed. And now it islied 400. I dont know where they get that we were getting to come dollars because getting 600 we were not even receiving. Ever sinceen reduced i first filed which was march 30 , 2020. Guest that is interesting. You are in illinois . Host she is in ohio. Janet, are you still with us . Caller im in ohio. I never got the 600. The second time i applied, it was only 500. I received that until last week which now it is only 400. I dont know where people get that we were getting 600 per week. I may bus driver and i make more money driving the school bus and i do drawing unemployment. Host michele evermore. Guest i am not exactly sure what is going on. I do know the week of march 30, you probably would not have gotten sick some dollars 600 because that did not take effect until early april. In terms of getting 500 instead of 600 i wonder if there was any point in the past you were accidentally overpaid Unemployment Insurance. Sometimes that may play a factor. Im really not sure why you would not get the 600. Im happy to look into it. Host just a followup on the ppp we were talking about. Wall street journal, what you need to know about the changes. The Small Business administration will accept Loan Obligations loan applications on monday. Officials say the programs original deadline was june 30. Lets hear from daisy in new york. Good morning. Caller morning, everybody. I have to agree with the two previous filaments from georgia that the government gentlemen from georgia. Here in new york, it is barely keeping us afloat. We have stopped paying our mortgages and our bills. They see that released a list the other day of all of the billionaires that got loans and bailouts and people are complaining over 600 and it is vexing me. It is not that people do not want to go back to work. People are afraid to jump something touched something, bring Something Back touch something. A lot of people are probably working from home from a computer and they were ok. But the rest of us have to be out there working and catching a virus and bringing it home to our loved ones. The government is going to have to do better than the 1200 which to me was an insult and basically extend the unemployment until the end of the year. I do not see myself heading out getting on a crews or getting on an airline to do anything. The money is to keep us afloat, school shopping, and maybe local businesses. Host michele evermore. Guest one of the key points of Unemployment Insurance was to provide an reservation wage. It discourages people from taking a job that pays less than the job before so that people when they do go back to work, find a job that suits them which is good for them and their employer and they will be able to stick with. Right now that concept is different because there is a virus out there that is deadly. It is also providingthchoice toy nothing that is truly unsafe. Is a really 600 powerful way to give workers a little bit of choice rather than having to take the first thing that comes along with host from your experience over the past couple of months with the pandemic and what youre hearing from our viewers this morning, how easy do you think the process has been to apply for the unemployment aid . Guest it has not been easy at all. Even in states that are doing their best to process claims quickly, administrative funding for Unemployment Insurance is lower than it was in 2001. That does not account for inflation or population growth. The highestct that number of claims in history was 695,000 in 1982 and we started this recession with an initial claims week of 3. 3 million and then 6. 6 million, nobody had any ability to prepare for Something Like this. Nothing was ever seen in history. Even states that had plans in place for recession readiness were not doing well and then there are states that have deliberately sabotaged their systems to make it harder for workers to get benefits. Going into the last recession, only 9 of people in North Carolina were getting a bit of. Eight benefit only 11 of people in florida were getting a benefit. Reducing access during good times makes the system impenetrable in hard times. Host you can send us a text at 202 7488003. Allave one here, why cant expenses be canceled for someone who is unemployed for the pandemic . Some people did not have expenses. Why would a College Student that lives with their parent and have no real Monthly Expenses deserve to get almost 1000 per week in unemployed men benefits . That was from kendra in richmond, virginia. Im not sure what she means by expenses. Guest Unemployment Insurance is the system we have for dealing with recessions, that is the answer. To try to figure out person by person what their expenses are and for the government to legitimatet is a expense, would be very difficult. What are the expenses and who are on the hooks of that, i am not sure how that would work. We have the system that has been designed to get benefits out to put people relatively quickly. Not as quickly as we would have hoped. It is what we have. Ali lets hear from dawn from west virginia. Caller hi. I am calling in regard to my husband. Inm a stayathome mother west virginia. One of our biggest jobs is coal mining. Is 32 and every since he graduated high school in 2006, he has been a coal miner. 600, even that does not even match. He was recently laid off and even that does not match what he was making prior to. If it was not for the covid payments, we would be getting 400 per week as opposed to so that would be 1600 per month as opposed to 2600 every two weeks. With therehing is not a lot of opportunities in west virginia. Recently, the pipeline that was going to go on here, that was recently scrapped. So there are more people that are going to have to go from having the potential to earn all of this money and having to live on 400. I know a lot of people are frustrated about people that are making more money with the covid payments on unemployment. But there is a vast majority in west virginia, especially with the coal miners and pipe liners who are not even close to making what they were. Host when was your husband laid off . Caller he was laid off about one month ago. We have five kids. The coal mine is so upanddown. Men are constantly being transferred from one to another. About one month prior to him being laid off, he was transferred from working 15 minutes from home to an hour away from home and he took a 5 take cut at that time. Host we will hear from michele evermore. Guest thank you for that. It is a really important point that people are not making as much with the extra 600 as they were making before. Another thing to keep in mind is you cannot tell people to go back to jobs that dont exist. That is why whenever there is a recession, congress has to extend the number of weeks available for people to get benefits and they are extensions in place for workers to get benefits, get additional weeks of benefits when times are hard. You cannot tell somebody to take a job that does not exist. That is a really important point, thank you. Host michigan is next up. Timothy, good morning. Caller good morning. Host make sure that you mute your audio. Go ahead with your comment. Caller yeah. What i wanted to say is all this could have been avoided if the took actionuld have when it first happened. All of these people complaining about unemployment, all of that could have been avoided if he took the appropriate steps to stop it in its tracks. People out tell the there that are complaining about and the economy is crashing, what do you tell those people like that if it all started in the president s hands . That is my comment. Host michele evermore, you worked in the Labor Department for the obama administration. What is your position in terms of the response of the Labor Department . Really the safety standard coming out of the department of labor right now is nonexistent and that is a problem. I think that the response in terms of dr. Birx unemployment e has been positive. In general, the guidance came out quickly, but we have not seen anything about refusal of suitable work, protecting Public Health, and safety guidelines. At a hearing that i testified at at the Senate Finance committee, only side one citation have been issued in health and Safety Response to
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