Gov. Tom Wolf called on White House and Congressional negotiators Tuesday to do better than the $200 weekly supplement to unemployment compensation benefits that U.S. Senate Republicans have put on the table as part of a new coronavirus economic rescue package.
The Senate Republicans proposal would replace the just-expired $600 weekly supplement to traditional income-based jobless benefits paid to laid-off workers that is expiring this week. Some fiscal conservatives and business leaders have been critical of that original program, arguing that it upends the economy by discouraging some people in lower-wage jobs from returning to work.
Wolf, taking questions after an appearance at a state CareerLink office in York County, said that points to a broader problem with wage inequities.
“The point is... that it’s a good time to think about what a family-sustaining wage is, and what a good job is,” Wolf said, adding that in his opinion the Republicans’ starting offer on the pandemic assistance is insufficient.
“There are just too many jobs that aren’t paying enough. And maybe when we started hearing complaints from some folks that six hundred dollars a week was actually encouraging people to stay on unemployment compensation and not go back to work, that should have sent a signal, a message, that maybe we ought to pay more.”
The $200-per-week supplement, Wolf continued, “is better than nothing. But in my opinion it’s not enough.”
The proposal is part of a $1 trillion opening bid from the majority Senate Republicans that still has to be negotiated out would have to be with the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, who are pushing a recovery package that would spend three times as much and extend the $600 per week in extra unemployment aid through the end of the year.
Many economists say that the bonus money - originally designed to keep most Americans being suddenly laid off for the first time in their careers - at something close to full income has provided a crucial economic buffer for the unemployed, and that lowering the payments now could exacerbate the COVID-19-fueled recession.
The new Republican plan has two steps, according to national reports.
It would first cut the $600 weekly check to $200. That reduced benefit would flow for two months, allowing state governments time to transition their unemployment systems in order to replace flat-rate federal unemployment supplements with a new enhanced benefit calibrated to give an unemployed worker 70 percent of the wages she or he was making before losing a job.
The Democrats are expected to insist on more.
There is data that indicates $600 a week in extra benefits has pushed wage replacement rates above 100 percent in much of the country, including in Pennsylvania. Many progressive economists, however, have argued that the additional assistance has bolstered a safety net that was already too stingy, and has played a vital role in shoring up the consumer spending.
Wolf on Tuesday also reiterated a call he first made earlier this month for the Congress to pass a separate bill that would provide $120 billion to federal funds to help independent restaurants cope with the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor said that’s a better way to help restaurants rather than an unfettered reopening that could undermine the fight against the virus.
“This is a targeted effort to shut the virus down, and it makes sense to do it this way,” Wolf said of the statewide bar and restaurant restrictions imposed July 16.
“It makes sense also then to say if we’re going to ask you - this sector of the economy- to bear a bigger portion of the burden then it’s our responsibility to make sure that we do something about that. Both for the employer and for the employees.”
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July 28, 2020 at 10:50PM
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Wolf challenges Congress to do better on unemployment assistance as initial $600 weekly supplements expire - PennLive
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