Not completely crash and that unemployment continues to decline since the initial large increase attributable to the pandemic. I think in terms of Unemployment Insurance specifically, the insurance covered a lot of people would not have normally had access to Unemployment Insurance and the extra 600 a week. It allowed people to have money to spend to keep the economy and themselves afloat. Host Michele Evermores at the nalp. Org, Unemployment Insurance has been a critical lifeline during the pandemic. Typically, how much extra money is this providing for the unemployed . Guest the pandemic unemployment assistance provides an extra 600. Where that came from is congress decided if the economy was going to be deliberately shut down to prevent the spread of the virus, then 100 of income should be replaced, but that 100 is hard to calculate with state computers, so what they figured was the average weekly benefit for Unemployment Insurance is 370 a week, and the average weekly wage is 900 and 70, so the difference is 600, 970, so give them the difference of what they were making before. Host when is that insurance had to expire . Expires julyy, it 31, but impracticality, it will end on july 25 or july 26, because that is the benefit and the before july 31. Host what do we know about how the pandemic has affected state unemployment budgets . The amount that states pay to unemployed . Guest going into the recession, a 14 states were in slightly better shapes than they were going into the great recession. However, so many people applied to ugly that it was at an evencedented level, that over 10 states have applied for federal loans because funding has either run out or they are close to running out. I anticipate that will be the case in most states, but fortunately, if your state trust fund runs out, do not worry. You still get a benefit that they have to borrow from the federal government. Host michele evermore is here to talk about the response to unemployment in the pandemic. If you are recently unemployed, that line is 202 7488000. All others, 202 7488001. At can send us a text 202 7488003 and we will get to your calls and comments momentarily. You mentioned july 31 as the date. Is there any anticipation of extending that date and adding additional federal funding . Guest yes. I think there is a strong chance congress will pass something to extend the benefit at some level. If congress does not act, several serious economists have said the economy really does stand a chance of faltering ones people are suddenly falling out this clifford collecting the extra 600 to whatever the regular Unemployment Benefits is. The thing people do not realize is over the last decade, states have really eroded regular Unemployment Insurance benefits to the point where they are not sufficient to keep people afloat at all. In some states, like louisiana and mississippi, people will week tom making 813 a 213 a week. That is going to be a real shock. Host market watch is reporting the jobless numbers and claims continuing a slow and steady tocent in late june, falling 1. 4 3 million and the Unemployment Rate falling further month of june. For the month of june. Because of the resurgence of the virus in some states, is it too early to tell about additional layoffs and unemployment claims filed because of the additional resurgence in states across the country . Guest we are certainly not out of the woods yet. I fear as states have had to reclose because they reopen too early in the virus started spreading again, we will see additional claims. To put the numbers in perspective, between the regular Unemployment Insurance claims and pandemic Unemployment Insurance claims, that is still and 200 million a week, historically, the highest week on average before the pandemic, it was 695,000 claims. Host we have calls waiting. First, tom in saint albans, new york. Go ahead. Caller i was going to say that thepeople that do not have ability to work from home or locked out of earning an income, unemployment is parroted. If you look at the depression in 1929 with the soup lines, what is the alternative if we did not continue supporting . Outlook forch a far a vaccine being ready by the end of this year or next year. It seems like they need to provide support for the populace until the vaccine is ready. Thank you. Guest absolutely. I totally agree with you that without employment insurance, Unemployment Insurance was established in 1935 as a response to the great depression. Not just to give people a benefit when they become voluntarily unemployed but as an economic stabilizer to keep one sector in the economy from crashing to spreading to other sectors. Host on our line for recently unemployed, jamie, tell us your story. Unemployedh, i got because of the coronavirus is so bad. In birmingham, we dont have nothing. I mean, alabama, we dont have becauseuch nothing everything is going down. The people are moving away. And that causes no jobs. And i have been going through this for a long time. I am wondering what happened with our economy . Jamie, are you currently getting Unemployment Benefits . Caller no, sir, i am not getting it. [indiscernible] host michele evermore . Guest i am so glad you have been able to get your disability benefits. I amabama, it is a state particularly concerned about because the average weekly benefit is only 230 a week, so it is another state where people will not be able to afford to live in the city. When people lose the ability to pay their rent, that starts to spiral out of control. As rents defaults, foreclosures happen and the economy gets much worse in many ways. It is a real pain for people to wagesd 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, the ppp, has been in all of this in trying to keep people employed and continue to pay employees . Guest the ppp program is important keeping people connected to work. Continually that there are some sort of disadvantages to work and Unemployment Insurance benefits, but we have seen people really do want to get back to work and they are looking hardest to their jobs and more likely to take jobs. To the extent that people can remain attached to work, that is wonderful. Host here is joe, calling from ash, North Carolina. Caller good morning. I live about eight miles away from myrtle beach, the grand strand, and if you drive up and down 17, highway 17, all the restaurants are breaking for people. All the Retail Stores are begging for people. But you cannot fault these people sitting on their backside when their average wage would be taking home about 400 a week when they can make right hundred dollars a week when they can make 800 a week from the 600 extra you are giving them. Who would want to do that . That is called unjust enrichment. And these people who you say, they want to go to work no, they dont. This is so terrible that you go along with this nonsense. The Unemployment Bureau should go ahead and say, call them up, i have a job for you. If you do not come in, you get no unemployment, no welfare, nothing. Host michele evermore, you touched on that briefly. Do you want to expand your thoughts on what the caller said . Guest actually, what you said about if somebody gets called back to work and refuses, they should not get in Unemployment Insurance benefit, that is law. So people cannot refuse a job that is suitable if they are offered it. However, one important thing to keep in mind is a job offer of suitable work has to be safe work. So if people are called back to work where they will be exposed to the virus and may have reason to refuse that work, but only in that circumstance. And the other thing is, there definitely is more to a job than a paycheck. People want stability right now. Everybody knows after the pandemic ends, the economy will not magically get better overnight, so the promise of longterm stable work is important to a lot of people. The chicago fed did a study and and they are more likely to look for work because they have access to Unemployment Services and they have support to look for work. Over 45 Million People filed a claim but the Unemployment Rate is only at 11 . I remember the first week in june, everybody was shocked the Unemployment Rate was not over 20 based on initial claims. So the numbers are there showing people are going back to work. Host you mentioned that you number, 11. 1 . When the numbers were announced last thursday, Vice President mike pence on cnbc talked about that and the idea of expanding those Unemployment Benefits under the coronavirus response. Here is what he said. [video clip] clear thatdlow make the Administration Position has been that you do not want to extend the extra 600 of unemployment benefit that expires the end of this month. Is that position changing at all . Does the strong number today cement the position . Well, i think you have heard the president say we have a real concern about creating an unintended incentive for people to stay on the sideline in this economy, and that 600 plus up in unemployment, many believe contributed to that, and you see the numbers today and people are coming out the sideline with the recent Labor Participation is encouraging. The next package, President Trump has made clear that it really needs to focus on growth and getting people back in the work force also growing the economy. That is why we went to deal with issues like a payroll tax cut which will put money in the pockets of those working immediately and make capital available for those on an ongoing basis, and we think it is critical as is this is 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, and all of those policies would be what we look at. The most important thing is if the next is that the next rescue package creates the incentives to keep this economy growing strong, as evidenced in the job numbers today. Host michele evermore, your theghts on the key issues, payroll tax cut, and the business Liability Protection, as mentioned by the Vice President . Guest neither of those are the kind of stimulus measures that really help economy in the way it needs assistance right now. It creates problems for future policy, Social Security and medicare, and Liability Protection against employers that could pose serious, Serious Problems for workers. Right now it is imperative we keep work is safe. If we do not, we see the Coronavirus Spread out of control. We are already seeing bigger increases in the spread that we had in the past. That is because people are being asked to go back to unsafe work. Anything we do to make it easier for employers to require workers to do work that is not safe for them imperils them and us all. It imperils the economy. Host question from kevin who texted the question, michele evermore, will the selfemployed be able to continue the standard unemployment after july 31, especially those who earn a lot of your income at fairs and festivals but most have been canceled . Guest yes, the pandemic unemployment assistance will remain in effect until december 31. We have also worked with congress to make sure those benefits are excited as long as the economy needs it. We hope to see in the next package automatic extenders for all of the programs. Beyond even the december 31 date and pandemic unemployment assistance. Host just another check of the Unemployment Rate, it was 11. 1 for june overall, 10. 1 for ande, 14. 5 for hispanics 15. 4 for blacks, according to the bureau of labor statistics. Thats your next term susan in jamestown, new york lets hear from susan in jamestown, new york. Caller i have a concern on the 600 unemployment a week. People are also getting hundreds and stamps, the Free Lunch Program is wonderful for the children. Theres money is being wasted like there is no tomorrow, but people do not want to go back to work. The stores are hurting. They cannot even get the proper change to give their customers because the banks do not have it because the transactions and according to the bank because is this is are not open. Host susan in new york. Michele, any response . Guest one thing to keep in mind about Unemployment Insurance, it is not just a benefit for those who are getting it but an economic stabilizer. Right now we have not seen the crash. We looked at what the prospects are we do not continue the benefit, and for the whole economy it is gloomy. Unemployment insurance spending generates local spending, so during the height of the section, every dollar spent generated the economy, and that is why you have not seen Consumer Spending drop or the Housing Market crash. That is why states are still collecting tax revenues and they have not had to lay off as many people as they could have ended up having to lay off. The 600 is not just helping people getting that benefit but everyone. Host here is wade in edgefield, South Carolina, recently unemployed. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I think these people are calling in and saying the unemployment help is nonsense are probably already retired and do not need assistance whatsoever. Lee, myself, i have been selfemployed all my life. I have never had any government assistance of any kind up until now. Luckily, i did get the unemployment, and it is so much help. Without it, i would have done lost my home and probably pretty much everything i have worked for. My work is in home repair, and i have stayed busy all my life doing it, but in the last four months, i had to have two calls. Without it, i will surely lose everything i worked for, and i am so appreciative of having it. I am hoping it extends police until we can get a vaccine or something so my phone will start reading and 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 said you had never gotten government assistance before. How hard was it to apply through South Carolina for unemployment and the pandemic unemployment . Well i applied with the state first and it took four i had been paid then, and then it automatically kicked me over to the federal and i applied for it, and it took about three weeks or four more weeks, but two weeks ago, i did start to see the benefits, and i was so glad because i was far from being actually out of money, unfortunately. Host thanks for your experience. Michele evermore . Caller thank you for calling in guest thank you for calling him. Some people are hesitant to apply because they think of it as something that maybe they did not earn, but actually it is an earned benefit based on how much you have earned before. It is like saying you have gotten into a car crash and you will not use Auto Insurance because it is free money. It is not really. It is something we all pay into. I am glad you got your benefits and it is helping you out. Host also in South Carolina is john in florence. Good 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 have worked all over the country, shaken, and i have unemployment out of illinois. Last year alone i worked in alabama, new york, and with this corona, maybe a week before i was scheduled to go on a job in atlanta, due to corona, the job was canceled. Onlying a union worker, i work periods through the year, so the money i would have made on the job is the money that would have took me through the summer time to winter and then i would go to work. That 600 bonus that they just gave, if it was not for that, i would be on the streets, because even though i make decent money with things being so high, you still need to make money regularly to have a life. I am from South Carolina. I am all around the state and all around a lot of states and i heard a gentleman call in and say there are jobs everywhere and people are begging you to come in, and that is not true. I have been through it three times at this month, and i definitely have not seen signs holding up a sign saying, please, come in and work. I make a certain pay scale, but if it came down to it, i would have worked a job lower than i would be willing to, but as far as people begging you to come in, come in and there are jobs everywhere, that is in true. And that money is that is not true. And that money is helping people survive until he can get a hold of what is going on. I have one question, also. As of right now, i have two checks left in my unemployment. And i know they are supposed to be making a decision in the next week or two. I really want to know what they are going to do because i deal with all walks of life with people and im in the union, so i work with people from different states, ages and races. I have made a lot of friends over the last six years, and i have been contacting them through facebook. They have all been telling me, man, im going to lose this and that because this unemployment is not even getting some of those guys for what they make, they may make 78,000 a year and i make less at 60,000 a year, but even with unemployment, theyre not making enough pay their bills. If you take that away, what are they going to do . That is my question. Host appreciate you calling in, john. Guest i think there is a strong chance congress will extend the benefit. There are couple of proposals out there right now. In the house, they are supposed to extend the 600 through the end of january 2021. In the senate, senator schumer and why didnt have proposed a step down approach to the 600. Employment gets below 11 , than the 600 becomes 500 and so forth, as a compromise to start backing down from the extra benefit as jobs become available. In terms of your experience, i would say that it is really 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 they are telling you that what your rights are, so i think one take away from that is that people who have not applied because they do not think you are eligible should definitely rethink that in this period. A lot more people are eligible. Host a comment more the real numbers will not be seen until august. Ppp funding for the most, finished by june 30. Without additional unemployment support we will see major problem starting in august. Congress did extend the ppp until the end of august, correct . Guest i believe so. I am not an expert on tpp. Ppp. One thing i will point out, it is great attorney called worksharing. They have the option to apply for shorttime compensation or worksharing which would spread the work longer cross the workforce and those workers would also get an Unemployment Insurance benefit and the additional pandemic unemployment compensation, which is currently 600 and hopefully will remain through the end of the year, until the Public Health crisis passes. Host finish your thought. Guest shortterm compensation is an underutilized program from what everyone should know about it. Host we live from janet in cincinnati. Caller hello. I am a School Bus Driver and the first week i started drawing unemployment i did not receive 600 could i have been unemployed since march 16. I had unemployment last week, now it is 400. I dont know where they get that we were getting 600 a week. Moreyself, and a couple of bus drivers were not receiving the full amount. Ours has been reduced ever since we started doing unemployment with one of the weeks being omitted when i first started unemployment which was march 30, 2020. Guest that is interesting. She is in illinois . Host she is in ohio. She is still with us. Ohio. i am in when i first filed for unemployment, they skipped the week of march 30. I never got the 600. The second week i applied it was only 500 and i received that until last week, so it was only 400. I do not know what people get that we make 600 a week. Im a School Bus Driver and i make more money driving a school bus than i do with unemployment. Host ok, janet. We will hear from michele evermore. Sure i am not exactly what is going on can i know the week of march 30 you would not have gotten the 600 because that did not Pass Congress until the end of march and did not take effect until early april. In terms of getting 500 or 400 instead of 600, im wondering if at any point in the past you are somehow accidentally overpaid Unemployment Insurance. Sometimes that may take play a factor. I am not really sure why you wouldnt 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 latest Small Business owners now have until august 8 to apply for ppp loans. The Small Business administration will begin accepting loan applications on monday. That was this past week. The original deadline was june 30. Lets hear from daisy in yonkers, new york. Good morning. Also unemployed. Caller good morning, everybody. I happen to agree with the two previous gentlemen from georgia that the government has to extend this 600 benefit. I cannot believe the number of people calling thinking that 600 is better than nothing here in new york, it is barely keeping us a float. We have to pay medicine, bills thend when you see billionaires they released a list of the billionaires that got millions of dollars in loans and bailouts and these people are complaining over 600. It definitely vexes me. It is not that people dont want to go back to work. People are afraid to catch something, bring something back. What about people that cannot work safely from home . A lot of the people calling up are probably ensconced in their home, working from home on a computer, and they are ok, but the rest of us have to be out there working, catching a virus, and bringing it home to our loved ones . The government is going to have to do better than the 1200 and they gave, which, to me, was an insult, and basically extend the unemployment, at least until the end of the year. I do not see myself heading out to golf, going on a cruise, getting on an airline, or anything. The money is to give us afloat, school shopping, and may be some of our local businesses. Host daisy in new york. Michele evermore. Guest you raise that important. One of the key goals of Unemployment Insurance is to provide a reservation wage, people fromures having to take a job that pays a lot less than they had before, so that people when they do their best work, find a job that suits them, which is good for their them and their employer, and they will be able to stick with it longer debt right now that concept is totally different because there is a virus out there that is deadly. It is also providing a workersion, a power for to truly have the choice to say no to something that is truly unsafe. I think that 600 is just a really powerful way to give workers a little bit of choice rather than having to take the first thing that comes along that is either lowpay or unsafe. Host from your experience the last couple of months with the pandemic and the governments response to it and with what you are hearing from viewers this morning, how easy do you think the process has been to apply for unemployment aid . Guest it has not been easy at all. Even in states that are doing their best to process claims quickly, the reality is administrative funding for Unemployment Insurance is lower now than it was in 2001, and that does not account for inflation or population growth. Fact that thee highest number of claims in history 695,000 in october of 1982, and we started this recession with an initial claims week of 3. 3 million, and then 6. 6 million, 6. 6 million nobody had any ability to prepare for anything like this. Nothing we have ever seen in history. Even states that had plans in place for recession readiness were not doing well. Then there are states that have deliberately sabotaged their systems and made it harder for workers to get benefits. Going into the last recession, only 9 of people in North Carolina were getting a benefit. It is so hard to get benefits there. Only 11 of people in florida were getting the benefit, who were unemployed. Improving access in good times makes the system impenetrable in bad times. Whyne tweet for you cant all expenses be canceled for someone that becomes unemployed. Some people getting 600 a week do not have expenses. Why would a College Student that lives at their parents and has no real monthly expenses, deserve to get 1000 a week in an apartment benefits . Guest Unemployment Insurance is the system we have two dealing with recessions is the answer. To try to figure out person by person what their expenses are, for the government to decide what is a legitimate expense, that is not legitimate, would be very difficult. Who is it that is giving the ense the Grocery Store what are the expenses and who was on the hook for that . I am not sure how that would work. We have this system that has been designed to get benefits out to put people among relatively quickly, not as quickly during this recession as we had hoped, but it is what we have. Dawn, also hear from unemployed, calling from beckley, west virginia. Caller i am calling in regards to my husband. I have been a stayathome mother for the past several years. Here in west virginia, you know, coldf our biggest jobs is mining, and that is, like, an obvious. My husbands 30 tool, and ever since he graduated high school in to thought 32, and ever since he graduated high school in 2006, he has been a call minor. The extra 600 even that doesnt even match. He was recently laid off. Even that does not match what he was making prior to. If it was not for the covid payments, we would be getting 400, you know, a week, as opposed to so that would be 1600 a month, as opposed to 2600 every two weeks. There isa thing not a lot of opportunities here in west virginia, and recently the pipeline that was going to go on here in west virginia, you know, that was recently scrapped , so there are more people that are going to have to go from having the potential to learn all of this money and having to a 400. I know a lot of people are frustrated about people that are making more money with the covid payments on unemployment, but it is a vast majority here in west virginia, especially with the call minors and the pipe liners call minors and pipe liners who are not even close to making what they were. Host and done, when was your husband laid off . You said it was recently. Caller yes, he was laid off a month ago. We have five kids. The call mine is so up and the cold mine is so up and down. About one month prior from being laid off he was transferred from working 15 minutes from home to an hour away from home and he took a five dollar pay cut at that time. Host we will hear from michele evermore. To her for calling in. For that to that is an important point that a lot of people are not making as much with the extra 600 they were making before. The other thing to keep in mind is we cannot tell people to go back to jobs that do not exist. Routinely, whenever there is a recession, congress tends to extend the number of weeks available to get benefits and there are a number of benefits in place for workers to get benefits, additional weeks of benefits when times are hard. It is true you cannot tell someone to take a job that does not exist. That is a really important point. Thank you. Michigan nexte, up. Timothy, good morning. Caller good morning. Make sure you meet your audio. You will get feedback and confuse yourself. Go ahead with your comment. Caller what i wanted to say is all of this could have been avoided if the president would have, you know, taken action when it first happened. All of these people complaining about unemployment and stuff like that, all of that could have been unavoidably could have been avoided if he took the appropriate steps to stop it in its tracks. What you tell the people out there complaining about the and that the economy is crashing what do you tell 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 for a time. What is your observation of the response of the Labor Department under President Trump and his labor secretary, Eugene Scalia . Caller this guest the Safety Standards coming out of the department of and that nonexistent is a real problem. The response in terms of Unemployment Insurance has been positive. I think in general, a lot of guidance came out very quickly, but we still not have seen anything about refusal of suitable work, we have not seen anything to protect Public Health, and we have not seen any safety guidelines. At a hearing when i testified in the Senate Finance committee, only one citation had been issued on health and safety in response to the tens of thousands of complaints coming in in response to the pandemic. We have to keep the virus from spreading. That is what is going to save the economy. Without basic health and Safety Standards, i do not understand how that gets accomplished. On twitter from diana who says this my unemployed 27yearold daughter lives at homes has a covid payment that has to be paid, car insurance, cell phone, gas, etc. Lets get to tom who is in ohio. Caller hello. Host you are on the air, tom. Go ahead. Caller good morning. First, i want to say that trump had stopped all visitors coming from out of the country in here as soon as he heard about the pandemic, first off. Second off, i am retired, 73 years old and i have been working two jobs since 1983. I go out and i look for work, and i right now have been working through the pandemic as a cleaner, and the companies i strict. , they are very they take your temperature before you even enter the process. We have everything done 3, 4 times a day in lunch rooms, offices we wipe down everything. There are companies that are and allg with the cdc, of this other stuff these people who are unemployed, i heard walmart is looking for help. Tons of jobs out there. You are not going to make the money i am working for a dollars an hour, and just making my ends meet. During the Obama Administration, my investments were down in the dumps. So that is why i kept working ever since i was retired, and since trump got in, my 401 k and my investments have gone up a little bit until the pandemic, but even still im still working. There is opportunity. It was just have to go out and look for it. Host tom, tell us how old you are. Caller 73. Host appreciate your call. Michele evermore, your thought . 5 guest one thing i would say in response to that is if he has been working that hard, that long, it is really unfortunate shiftedsociety we have from a defined benefit pension to a defined contribution model where a drop in investment returns in your defined Contribution Plan means you have to continue to work past 73. Once this pandemic is over, we should start to have a more robust conversation about why Retirement Security isnt where it should be. Host lets get one more call here. Anna. South windsor, connecticut. Also recently unemployed. Youre on the air. Caller yes, i am. Thank you. My comment is to the young lady there. Emotion for the you can see the emotion in her face that she is concerned, she cares, and she knows what she is talking about, and i just quickly want to say i love her, i dont even who she is, but she knows what she is talking about, and she is concerned for all of us. , cspan. T to thank you i would like to know i just thought of Something Else what happens to all of the Social Security money when people die . Where does that money go. Host ok, anna. Ichelle michele evermore caller thank you for that, much less in the nutmeg state. Social security people paying in pay the current benefits. It is not like an account that has your name on it. Untillly, people can draw they are 120, or they may not return if as big a they pass away right after they retire. Basically that is how it works it is an insurance program, not necessarily a savings vehicle. Host michele evermore cspans washington journal live every day coming up this discuss traumas legislative reelection chances with columnist and author cal thomas and illinois democrat julie garcia discusses the mexican president s visit with President Trump. Then, a discussion on the covid19 pandemic on the black community with dr. Uche blackstock. Watch cspans washington journal this morning, and be sure to join with your phone tweets. Essages, and today, secretary of defense and joint chiefs of staff general mark milley testified before the House Armed Services committee on the authority and rules of the Defense Department related to civilian law enforcement. Watch live coverage beginning at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, on demand on cspan. Org, four listen live wherever you are on the free cspan radio app. Illinois representative cheri bustos is chair of the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. She joined the organizations executive director to talk about the democrats strategy of winning house seats in the election. 2020 hosted by the American University women in politics institute, this is just under an hour. We are delighted to have congresswoman cheri bustos of illinois. She is currently the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. She has served four years in the house and in her previous life, she spent nearly two decades working as a journalist. With18, she was reelected the largest victory for any democrat from a district which trump won
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