[ [link removed] ]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress




There are a lot of misconceptions about what is happening in the labor
market, and we’re here to set the record straight.

In March, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan which boosted
unemployment benefits by $300 a week after the pandemic forced millions to
lose their livelihoods.

The fact that the benefits boost expired in September, however, has not
stopped conservatives from trying to blame the worker shortage and high
rate of unemployment over the last year on these unemployment benefits –
claiming workers were choosing to sit on the couch instead of going out
and looking for work.

We know that’s not true.

What is true is that hundreds of thousands of women were pushed out of the
workforce due to Covid-related school closures and lack of childcare.

Conservatives love to act like they’re “fiscally savvy” yet remain puzzled
as to why people can’t work a job whose pay won’t even cover the cost of
childcare.

What is true is that essential workers now facing the rise of the Delta
variant, and who were forced to be exposed again and again with little
protections and low pay, have put their foot down.

Not only that, over 700,000 people have died due to Covid-19 in the U.S. —
surely conservatives would understand the impact of that on the labor
force?

According to a new job report, 4.3 million workers, or 2.9 percent of the
labor force, quit their jobs in August.^1 Workers across industries, from
healthcare to cereal factories, are standing up to lousy jobs, whether
that’s defined by low pay, or abusive or dangerous workplaces. It’s no
surprise that we’ve seen a rise in labor strikes.

Yet conservatives continue to hold onto their tired rhetoric of the
American worker being relegated to a couch potato because of unemployment
benefits — when we know that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The fact
remains that millions of Americans are still suffering through an economic
crisis, and now there’s one less lifeline available since these benefits
expired in September.

[ [link removed] ]We want to hear from you. Will you take our short survey to let us
know how you feel about unemployment benefits and how you or someone you
know has been impacted?

[ [link removed] ]Take our survey

The idea that laziness is why people stay home contradicts the “free
market” ideals conservatives pretend to champion. Some economists have
hypothesized that savings from higher unemployment benefits have allowed
workers to look for better jobs.

Markets apply to labor, too. If supply is low and demand is high, price
goes up. Conservatives seem to accept that for everything but wages.

And, with no end in sight for the pandemic, Alexandria and her colleagues
have introduced a bill to extend the unemployment benefits further.

[ [link removed] ]We
want to know your opinion on unemployment benefits and how we can best
support working people in this moment — will you take our survey here?

We’ll use your responses to fight for the benefits that support working
families as we continue to recover from this pandemic.

Thank you,

Team AOC

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1 - [ [link removed] ]Yahoo


 

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