Like to the amount that actually they originally passed ($600 per week), rather than $300.
But part of the purpose of economic stimulus is that if people don’t need it for essentials, they spend it. And if they spend it, it generates overall demand in the economy and helps with economic recovery.
There’s a LOT of people who don’t qualify for UI that still are suffering economic hardship for which direct cash would be a big help- reduced hours or pay at work, people that are on fixed income and have increased essentials costs (food, health care), taking care of more family members now, own businesses. Anyway, I hope it actually comes through.
The PUA expanded benefits do capture a lot of gig workers finally, though. But only if you have nearly complete loss of income.
Yeah, I was thinking that with some of the expansions unemployment is helping more people than usual (when it’s functioning/funded). I’d love to see even more provisions for underemployed people and extensions of how long you can receive unemployment benefits.
When it comes to covering the most vulnerable people though, even direct payments aren’t getting to an awful lot of people who really need them.
I mean, my plan for the money is basically to chuck at least half of it to the local food bank and the other half to another local group. I don’t need the money personally, but this way I know some will make its way to the local needy.
Unemployment insurance is a state/federal combo program, so it runs a little different in each state but generally your employer and you contribute a portion of your paycheck when employed, and if you lose your job through no fault of your own* then you can file for UI and get usually 26 weeks of payment
*not fired
In non pandemic times, UI pays you out only a portion of your wages from the average of the last year of your employment - in most places it is 60% - and there are minimums and maximums, which means for a lot of people, they make as little as $100 a week on UI. It’s meant to incentivize you to look for a job. And you usually need to show you are actively looking for work and file every week to get that check.
People who work for churches and people who work for themselves (gig workers) do not pay into UI insurance and therefore they usually can’t qualify to take out of it. Some nonprofit workers fall in this category too because their work ‘self insures’.
Anyway, when the pandemic started, the federal program added $600 per week so the payments were enough to live on, extended unemployment max benefits by 26 weeks (til one year) and made it so you can get UI if you need to stop working due to covid (since we don’t have paid sick time in america). They also TRIED to make it so gig workers and self-employed people and people who work for churches could file for UI. It worked…kinda…in some places. Some people in my state STILL haven’t gotten UI checks from March they qualify for theoretically because of how much a mess it has been. The ancient UI computer system was not set up to process claims from gig workers and business owners.
The extra $600 expired in August (??time is weird), and congress couldn’t pass the extension but President Trump added $300 a week to it via executive order. That expired as did the extra 26 weeks, on December 26th, 2020.
People who work under the table don’t pay into UI so they can’t get access to it. People who work really sporadically like catering might not have enough “quarters of work” on the record to qualify for UI as a gig worker.
People who work under a TIN - which usually means they don’t have a social security number - (usually undocumented immigrants) usually cannot access UI and they also will not get the stimulus check. Last round if you were a legal resident with an SSN but you filed a return with someone with a TIN (undocumented) you also couldn’t get a stimulus $$
many are working service industry jobs that are hiring - delivery gig app drivers, instacart shopper, working at grocery stores, package/shipping services, essentially putting themselves at risk in jobs that are still hiring
living off savings
gettin UI in the states that managed to effectively get it to gig workers
relying on friends/family
pivoting their businesses
a lot of people are relying on food stamps (SNAP), not paying rent (because there’s an eviction moratorium), and there’s a huge increase in need at food pantries
not really. They gave us $1,200 back in April and were like cool cool that’s great. you’re fine now right?
If you’re disabled you can get on SSDI but that’s only if you have social security work credits (which would usually qualify you for UI in the short term). SSDI can take a very long time - years - to get approved as you have to prove how disabled you are. They have a backlog and are understaffed.
Depends on the state. The guidelines of income are below the poverty line which is ~$1600 per month for a single person and $2,710 per month for a family of four. So in some states just getting any UI would knock you out of eligibility for SNAP.
In most states, you cannot get food stamps without working in some capacity if you’re an able-bodied childless adult. Some states let that go during the pandemic.
Additionally, in many states you need to prove you have assets that total no greater than $2,000 to get on foodstamps.
It’s federal but it expired for a bit and a lot of landlords started the process in the courts, then it passed federally again.
Yes they will, I assume a lot of people will go bankrupt.
Yeah honestly watching you do it is vaguely like when people involuntarily wince when you tell them a childhood story and you’re like “damn right it was fucked up!” …I don’t think that’s healthy, but what else have I got.
Omg seriously I highly recommend this video by Evan Edinger, an American now living in the UK for 10 years. It scratches that exact itch. Also I thought I knew a lot about tipped minimum wage, but I learned stuff I didn’t know!
The thing that’s fucked about this is, isn’t it based on your 2019 income?
Raise your hand if your household income went DOWN (or became nonexistent) in 2020. {raises hand, though in the end it turned out OK}
So, if someone made more than I think $75k in 2019, they get nothing (or less? I don’t remember if it’s a gradual phaseout or a cliff), even if they are presently making $0.
FREEDOM, If WE HELP OTHER PEOPLE IT HURTS OUR FREEDOM!
(Also it is very important that we spend a lot of money going to other countries to explain what freedom is, ideally these countries are located near some oil)
Double for a married couple. $150,000 for a married couple phases out at $174,000.
Head of household (usually single parents with dependent kids) can get it up to $112,500 a year and phases out $124,500.
Everyone who qualifies gets $600 extra for dependents under 17 years old.
They still screwed over dependents over 18 again like they did last time (like college students who file as adult parents dependent), which I think is bunk.
I feel like ours is understaffed, improperly funded and poorly set up, and then you talk about the US system and, while ours is still shit, it at least approaches humane? (In comparison)
