It’d be deeply irresponsible for the US Senate to refuse to extend the $600 federal unemployment benefit.

If it goes away, 1 of every 10 Tennessee workers lose >70% of $ they’re spending. Devastating to those out of work & hurts the economy, leading to higher unemployment. 1/x

You’ll hear people very confidently claim “generous” unemployment is keeping people from working.

Data doesn’t really support that as Evercore ISI’s @ernietedeschi points out.
https://twitter.com/ernietedeschi/status/1283831271634935815?s=21

2/

More important, ending this benefit will make the overall GDP go down by ~2%.

Here’s analysis from JP Morgan, indicating “that expiration will result in large spending cuts, with potentially negative effects on both households and macroeconomic activity.” https://institute.jpmorganchase.com/institute/research/labor-markets/unemployment-insurance-covid19-pandemic

One analysis shows that the boost provided by federal unemployment boost in Tennessee supports ~80,000 of the jobs we haven’t already lost.

https://www.epi.org/blog/cutting-off-the-600-boost-to-unemployment-benefits-would-be-both-cruel-and-bad-economics-new-personal-income-data-show-just-how-steep-the-coming-fiscal-cliff-will-be/. 4/

The economy isn’t struggling right now because the unemployed have it too good.

There aren’t enough jobs, because there isn’t enough consumer spending, because we’ve done a piss poor job of getting COVID under control.

Ending the $600 benefit now is bad for all of us.

5/5

One other thing. It’s not just us crazy legislators who are critical of the insane delays in unemployment processing.

JP Morgan, not your typical lefty outfit, points out the real harms of “longer processing delays” and the need for a better overall system. Cc: @Jobs4_TN