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Couple things standing out to me from today’s @BLS_gov jobs data.
The percentage of people in this country with a job is the lowest it’s been since 1983.
The percentage of people in this country with a job is the lowest it’s been since 1983.
There are 7 million people in this country currently not in the labor force (I.e. discouraged workers not actively seeking employment) who want a job. This is higher than at the worst point in the Great Recession.
The share of folks who are unemployed and have been for 6 months or longer continues to rise, closing in on 40 percent of total unemployed.
The Congress must step in and pass a new relief package, and it needs to be 1) large enough to meet the moment; and 2) focused on economic relief to families who lost supplemental UI benefits in July and those who are about to lose benefits altogether.
Bonus if state funding is tied to adhering to best public health practices on dealing with COVID. Don’t need one size fits all regulations per se, but need to make sure areas with high case numbers and limited or no hospital infrastructure are not breaking the existing system.
Point is, you can’t deal with COVID without dealings with the economy, and you can’t deal with the economy without dealing with COVID. The two are inextricably linked for the foreseeable future.
