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A note from EPI’s Kirstyn Flood: Millions of workers, desperate for relief, continue to file for unemployment insurance as the additional $600 per week COVID benefit comes to an end. EPI experts unpack the myths and facts about this benefit and explain why extending this benefit is so crucial.
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One of the most crucial provisions of the last coronavirus relief act was to provide an extra $600 weekly increase in unemployment benefits to the tens of millions of Americans who are currently out of work. Now the White House and many Republican policymakers want to let it expire or reduce it dramatically. But that would be a terrible mistake, and EPI economist Heidi Shierholz explains why:
- Unemployment is at historic levels.
- Unemployed workers need extra assistance during the pandemic.
- Cutting off the $600 benefit will make racial inequality worse.
- Cutting off the $600 benefit will kill millions of jobs.
- Cutting off the $600 benefit will not be an incentive to work. Read the blog post »
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Why we still need the $600 unemployment benefit
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EPI released a new report providing an inside account of how employers routinely threaten, intimidate, and harass workers to stop them from exercising their right to collective bargaining. Specifically, the authors take a deep dive into unionization drives at Kumho Tire in Georgia and DISH TV corporation branches in Texas, to illustrate what employer opposition campaigns look like on the ground. The report details common employer tactics that often turn overwhelming support for unions at the outset of a campaign into a “no” vote just weeks later, including:
- Forcing employees to attend daily anti-union meetings where pro-union workers have no right to present alternative views and can be fired on the spot if they ask a question.
- Plastering the workplace with anti-union posters, banners, and looping video ads—and denying pro-union employees access to any of these media.
- Instructing managers to tell employees that there’s a good chance they will lose their jobs if they vote to unionize. Read the report »
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Senate Republicans unveiled their coronavirus relief plan on Monday—almost two and a half months after the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act. Aside from the reckless and unconscionable delay, the HEALS Act fails miserably on two crucial objectives: supporting the people most harmed by the coronavirus recession and ensuring a robust economic recovery. This bill will lead to deep and prolonged pain. Congressional leaders should reject it and immediately act to pass a package that will actually provide relief to the economy and the people and families who comprise it. Read the statement »
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Last month, EPI estimated the effects of allowing the $600 supplement to weekly unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to lapse at the end of July, as is currently scheduled. We found that this would strip away enough aggregate demand from the economy to slow growth in gross domestic product (GDP) by 3.7% over the next year. This slower growth would result in 5.1 million fewer jobs created over the next year. Early indications strongly signal that we lost jobs in July, reversing the last two months’ gains—which were already wholly insufficient to declare the labor market healthy enough to begin ramping down the generosity of UI benefits. The big constraint on economic growth right now is the spread of the coronavirus. If we allow the $600 supplement to lapse, another huge constraint on growth will be imposed—collapsing incomes for the tens of millions of U.S. families that had to rely on these benefits in recent months. Read the blog post »
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To keep the gravy train going for mostly white 1-percenters and prop up the plutocracy, political leaders are using toxic populism with a racially infused culture-war strategy to stay in power—a strategy led by Trump and playing out daily in his tweet storms, according to political scientists and authors of Let Them Eat Tweets Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. Join Hacker and Pierson for a discussion about their book on Thursday, August 6, followed by a panel of EPI experts on what can be done to derail this distorted political influence by the rich and derail rising inequality. EPI President Thea Lee will moderate. Register for the event »
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EPI hosted a panel of experts on why policy must be changed to reverse the nation’s culture of anti-Blackness and the economic inequality surrounding it. EPI Distinguished Fellow Richard Rothstein discussed his book, The Color of Law, followed by a discussion on reshaping the country into one that values Black lives and bolsters economic opportunities for all. Watch the video »
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Google won’t bring its 200,000 employees back to the office until July 2021, pushing past its January timeline as coronavirus cases surge across the country and a vaccine remains months away. Read more »
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Myths and facts about the $600 unemployment benefit
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