10 November
William E Spriggs, an economist and professor, shared an article investigating the truth around the number of applicants having applied for unemployment insurance benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic and the number who have received payments when they needed it.
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According to data collected from the US Department of Labor and the US Treasury, only around half of the applicants received unemployment insurance payments amid the six-month long Covid-19 recession.
The CARES Act provision that offered an additional $600-per-week in unemployment assistance, also known as the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) made the stakes higher to receive unemployment insurance.
In addition, those who received the benefits were first offered and then ripped off a baseline of economic security that nearly 25 million people depended on.
Reports suggest that more than one million filed for unemployment benefits every week and since the beginning of the recession.
However, the percentage of claims being paid only rose from less than half in the end of April to more than half, or 56%, by the end of August.
This is indicative of the ongoing delays in payments, leaving workers waiting for basic life-sustaining needs.
