With the increase in unemployment benefits, some people have expressed their frustration that they’re earning less from going to work (and potentially exposing themselves to the virus) than people who are unemployed. And while I get the frustration, it feels like people are getting mad at those who are unemployed, which doesn’t seem particularly fair.
It definitely does suck that people who have to go to work right now, especially those with customer-facing jobs or jobs that otherwise make it difficult to implement necessary safety practices, are earning less than those who are unemployed. But it seems that the problem isn’t that people who are unemployed are getting paid too much so much as it’s that people who are employed aren’t getting paid enough. A stagnant minimum wage (and lack of UBI) and corporations failing to provide adequate financial incentives to continue working in dangerous conditions are, to me, better problems to address, as those solutions actually benefit people and may actually carry on into whatever future there is on the other side of this.
Also, not only did unemployed people not choose to be unemployed, or to increase the unemployment benefits, but there are other factors beyond current income to consider. Let’s remember that many people were laid off from jobs that they may have been at for years, accruing wage increases, paid time off, and other benefits, not to mention health insurance. I was relatively lucky; I was rehired just a couple weeks after getting laid off, so I was able to retain my previous wage, benefits, and health insurance coverage. (And all of that, even the fact that I was rehired at all, was only because of my union contract.)
My rent has gone up three times since I started my job, I now have a car loan, and I’m no longer on my parents’ health insurance. If I had to go back to the wage I had when I started, I might be living paycheck to paycheck. Many people will be in that position—by the time they’re able to return to work, assuming the company they worked for is even able to reopen, and assuming they even get rehired, they will likely be starting over. For older people, unless their company is contractually obligated to rehire them, they may be replaced with someone younger, and will likely find it difficult to get hired elsewhere. Younger people may have been saving up for higher education or a technical program. For both of these groups having even a couple months of extra income could make a big difference in the long run.
My point is that eventually unemployment benefits (and the requirements for collecting them) will return to what they were before, at which point I’m still going to have a job (hopefully). So I don’t envy those who are unemployed right now. They’re not the enemy.
(The enemy is capitalism, in case that wasn’t clear.)
Certain of Eventual Failure 