Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Our Bumbling Response to the Unemployment Crisis


How many people in our country can financially afford to go 5+ weeks without a paycheck?

A study in 2017 said 78% of our country lives paycheck to paycheck. Another study showed that 57% of people have less than $1,000 to their name.

So why are we not addressing just how difficult it is now to get approved for unemployment benefits? If 78% of our country can't afford to miss even one paycheck, why are we not pouring all our resources into making it as easy as possible to transition from regular employment to unemployment benefits? 

I lost my job due to COVID on June 25th. I received my last paycheck immediately after that and have not received a dime since then. Yet when I applied for unemployment, my claim was rejected. No reason was given - it just simply stated that I was ineligible.