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For Many, $600 Jobless Benefit Makes It Hard To Return To Work
NPR ^ | May 26, 2020 | Scott Horsley

Posted on 05/27/2020 5:22:40 PM PDT by fluorescence

Preschool teacher Lainy Morse has been out of work for more than two months. But the Portland, Ore., child care center where she worked is considering a reopening. Morse says she is dreading the idea, as much as she loves the infants and toddlers for which she cared.

"They always have snotty faces. It's just one cold after another," she says. "It feels just like an epicenter for spreading disease. And it feels really scary to go back to that."

In addition to risking infection with COVID-19, going back to work would also mean a cut in pay for Morse. Thanks to the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits the federal government has been offering during the pandemic, Morse and her fellow teachers are making more now than they did on the job.

"It's terrible to say, but we're all doing better now," she says. "It's hard to think about going back to work in this pandemic and getting paid less than we are right now when we're safe and at home in quarantine."

It's a dilemma that millions of unemployed Americans may face as businesses around the country start to reopen. And it's a question lawmakers will be wrestling with as they debate whether to extend the supplemental unemployment benefits past July.

The Cracker Barrel restaurant where Avery Adams worked has just resumed limited indoor dining again after weeks of takeout-only service. But the Gravel Switch, Ky., resident is in no hurry to go back.

"I don't feel like it's over yet," Adams says, pointing to a jump in coronavirus deaths in Kentucky at the beginning of last week. "I would wait to see, as things reopen, if the caseload increases again."

The restaurant has been patient about recalling workers, and Adams has decided to stay home for now. Mostly he's concerned for the safety of the four older relatives with whom he lives. But the extra $600 he's receiving in unemployment benefits does factor into his decision.

"I would say it has to, to some extent," Adams says. "It still really needs to be more about my family members, but it's been very generous having the CARES Act."

Some business owners complain that generous unemployment benefits are making it harder for them to find workers.

Rachel Davis runs a consignment shop in Warrensburg, Mo. Since reopening this month, she's been buying hand sanitizer by the gallon.

"Disinfectant is my new fragrance," she jokes. She's limiting traffic in the store to three customers at a time. And everyone who comes in must wear a mask.

"Customers have thanked us for that," Davis says. "And my sales are actually up since we reopened."

Davis also gave her part-time employees a modest pay raise. But the $10 to $11 an hour they make is significantly less than they were collecting on unemployment. One of Davis' four workers has not come back.

"I know I shouldn't take it personally," Davis says. "She's doing what she feels [is] in her best interest. But as an employer, it actually kind of hurts."

Economists at the University of Chicago estimate that more than two-thirds of the workers on unemployment insurance are making more in jobless benefits than they did at work — in some cases two to three times as much. It's a stark reminder of just how low the pay is in many hard-hit industries such as restaurants and retail.

When millions of low-wage workers are suddenly forced to stop working to protect public health, there are good reasons for the federal government to step in with some relief.

"Getting people money today so that you can buy groceries and not go hungry, getting people money so they can pay their rent, the basic necessities of life, kind of makes sense," economist Joseph Vavra says. He notes that some workers lost health benefits as well as income. And the government's goal at first was to keep people at home.

Still, Vavra and his University of Chicago colleagues say the flat, $600-a-week benefit does create questions of fairness, especially when other low-income workers are still on the job doing essential work.

"If you're a janitor and you work at a hospital, you're facing increased risk at your job and likely have not received a pay raise," economist Peter Ganong says. "But if you're a janitor and you work at a school that's shut down, then you actually get a 50% pay raise from claiming unemployment benefits."

Likewise, retail workers on furlough are collecting 42% more on average from unemployment than the grocery workers who are busy stocking shelves.

Arguments about fairness and whether the extra unemployment benefits discourage a return to work are likely to grow louder in Congress. House Democrats passed a bill that would extend the additional benefits through January. Senate Republicans are resistant.

Ganong and Vavra stress that with double-digit unemployment, maintaining some form of enhanced benefits will be vital. But they suggest an alternative formula so that benefits more closely match — but don't exceed — workers' old paychecks.

The flat, $600-a-week figure was adopted in March as an expedient way to get money out the door quickly. By July, Ganong and Vavra argue, there should be time to craft a more nuanced approach.

In many cases, workers who turn down a job offer from their old employer may lose their eligibility to collect unemployment insurance.

That's a chance Sonya Chartier and her husband are willing to take. They both opted not to return to work at a Wisconsin furniture store where customers are not required to wear masks. Chartier says she worries about infecting her mother-in-law, who lives with the couple.

"We're lucky and we can decide to stay home," she says. "I know so many people can't make that decision, and it's really hard. But we don't feel like it's safe to go out yet."

Chartier has started to look for new jobs — maybe one she can do from home or while otherwise avoiding risk. Her No. 1 question for would-be employers: What are you doing to protect your workers?


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: jobless; joblessoverpaid; unemployment
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In reality more than two thirds of the unemployed are better off not working; even those receiving less income are receiving the value (to them) of their time, hours lost commuting, personal expenses for going to work, etc.

IMO this was deliberate by democrats, overcompensating their constituents for the shutdowns to normalize not working but still being looked after. Now, ending the 'temporary' extra welfare is 'impoverishing people and jeopardizing their health', and the door is wide open for their representatives to demand formerly radical policies like UBI.

1 posted on 05/27/2020 5:22:40 PM PDT by fluorescence
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To: fluorescence

The $600 extra was by design by the DEMs ($15/hr times 40 hours), and the Republicans and Trump went along with it.


2 posted on 05/27/2020 5:25:38 PM PDT by CatOwner
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To: fluorescence

Only a liberal would think in those terms and only a liberal news service would peddle such a dead end approach to life.


3 posted on 05/27/2020 5:27:06 PM PDT by iontheball
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To: fluorescence

Benefit Replacement Rates for Common Occupations, from the University of Chicago

US Unemployment Insurance Replacement Rates During the Pandemic

4 posted on 05/27/2020 5:27:38 PM PDT by fluorescence
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To: fluorescence

The neo-Bsheviks in DC and ‘Rat run states aee chortling.


5 posted on 05/27/2020 5:27:45 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: fluorescence

Actual virtues like ambition and self-improvement having been beaten out of people in public schools ...


6 posted on 05/27/2020 5:28:25 PM PDT by IncPen ("Inside of every progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out" ~ David Horowitz)
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To: fluorescence
UBI is bad enough, but it won't stop there.

The 'U' is supposed to mean universal, i.e. everyone gets the same amount to do with as they please no questions asked.

What will happen over time is that the Dems will require tax forms so they only give the UBI to those who earn below a certain amount or have below a certain amount of 'wealth', e.g. stocks, bonds, etc.

Then they will put all sorts of constraints on it which will be poorly enforced but still annoying.

Then they will do a bad job at deciding who gets the UBI. Dead people will be getting some. Others will be double or triple dipping. Nigerians will get their share, etc.

Oh and don't forget that UBI must go to illegals ...er… undocumented folks as well.

7 posted on 05/27/2020 5:29:41 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: fluorescence
"... would also mean a cut in pay for Morse. "

It's not a cut in "pay" - it's an employment benefit.

You have to go back to work. If it means wearing full PPE, you have to go back. Or leave that job and get a job that you feel safer. But the Federal government is not obligated to provide you with *more* money than you were making.

8 posted on 05/27/2020 5:29:47 PM PDT by Fury (.)
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To: BenLurkin
"neo-Bsheviks"

Did you mean neo-Bolsheviks or neo-Bitchsheviks?

9 posted on 05/27/2020 5:30:37 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: fluorescence

“”””””In many cases, workers who turn down a job offer from their old employer may lose their eligibility to collect unemployment insurance. “”””””””””

This. If your employer calls you back or if you have an opportunity to get a job similar to the one you had and you decline it so you can collect unemployment then your benefits can be denied.

It is UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE not welfare.


10 posted on 05/27/2020 5:31:23 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: fluorescence

I guessed we have a whole nation of bipartisan a**holes who never heard of the concept of delay of gratification. Suck it up now and let nature take the hindmost... until its me (whine).


11 posted on 05/27/2020 5:32:11 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (Power is more often surrendered than seized)
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To: fluorescence

I don’t see government workers on that chart. Because, they got full pay and benefits, whether or not they worked!


12 posted on 05/27/2020 5:34:10 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: fluorescence

Almost like a plan, huh?


13 posted on 05/27/2020 5:35:18 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: hinckley buzzard
I guessed we have a whole nation of bipartisan a**holes who never heard of the concept of delay of gratification.

I remember a few years ago reading a list of white cultural practices in some racial diatribe. Future-oriented behavior was one of them.

14 posted on 05/27/2020 5:35:39 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: shelterguy

Can’t wait to see what the lawyers will have to say about “forced” employment. Another of the many roadblocks getting out of the rabbit hole.


15 posted on 05/27/2020 5:36:54 PM PDT by CatOwner
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To: fluorescence

Funny how many (like Cocaine Mitch) are furious over Americans getting $600 a week, but yet never had a problem with Bush and Obama blowing $6 trillion on endless, stupid wars.


16 posted on 05/27/2020 5:37:21 PM PDT by montag813
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Neo-Bolsheviks


17 posted on 05/27/2020 5:39:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: CatOwner

Unemployment law has been clear about the subject for years.
Not that the law makes any difference these days.


18 posted on 05/27/2020 5:39:57 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: fluorescence

This plays into the RATs hands by keeping people on the dole. It will also keep the economy slowed down because you have more people on the cart rather than pulling it. Of course the states with the most generous hand-outs are going to plead for federal bail-outs further suppressing the economy if they get it.


19 posted on 05/27/2020 5:42:05 PM PDT by Nateman (If the left is not screaming, you are doing it wrong.)
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To: shelterguy

In general, I agree. But with respect to COVID-19, lawyers everywhere (along with the DEMs) are going to muddy up the definition of being required to work.


20 posted on 05/27/2020 5:43:25 PM PDT by CatOwner
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