Title: How The $600 Pandemic Unemployment Payment Upended Household Economics : NPR
Headings: $600 A Week: Poverty Remedy Or Job Slayer?
Analysis
$600 A Week: Poverty Remedy Or Job Slayer?
The Coronavirus Crisis
'Tsunami' Of Evictions Feared As Extra $600 Unemployment Payments End
'I make less money' working than those who lost their jobs
The Coronavirus Crisis
As 'Hero' Pay Ends, Essential Workers Wonder What They Are Worth
When the unemployment office is competition for business owners
Universal basic income is here. Should it stay?
Coronavirus Live Updates
The End Of $600 Unemployment Benefits Will Hit Millions Of Households And The Economy
So who's getting the $600?
The economy now relies on it
Corrections July 28, 2020
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Content: The intense debate now in Washington is whether to extend these benefits or replace them with something else. Of particular worry is that lower-income households and women are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 job losses. Research from the University of Chicago shows that over 57% of women making less than $30,000 lost their income during the first month of crisis. Another huge worry — a large portion of the job losses are permanent. " We estimate that 42% of recent pandemic-induced layoffs will result in permanent job loss," said Steven Davis of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. So even if the government paid money for people to go back to work — as proposed by some — there won't be jobs to return to. The economy now relies on it
What's clear is that low-income households and the economy are now hooked on it for survival. The extra pandemic payment achieved a basic goal at the heart of it, which was that it has helped boost pockets of the economy. People who got the extra money did spend more than those with jobs. JPMorgan Chase Institute, a think tank associated with the bank, found that households receiving benefits spent 10% above pre-pandemic levels, compared to a spending drop of 10% for employed households. "