Six Million Americans Unemployed and Desperate over Xmas - Pelosi Holds out on Help

U.S. stimulus package

Calls alls are mounting for Democratic figureheads, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, to accept a smaller relief package if necessary and push for more later amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, despite their continued insistence Republican proposals are insufficient.

There is however movement towards a U.S. stimulus package, with a number below USD1 trillion now appearing to be small enough that everyone in DC concurs that it can fit into a Christmas stocking. In short, a stimulus package that was seen as too small to help the US economy out of its slump a few months ago is being celebrated today when the economic damage is already deeper.

There are now three competing proposals for a second large stimulus package currently: a bipartisan, bicameral proposal; one put forward by McConnell as the White House’s bid; and a Democratic proposal supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. 

The driving force to get an agreement done according to U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, "is to allow lawmakers to get home for the holidays with enough time to quarantine if necessary ahead of the Christmas break and visit family safely."

Even if lawmakers wanted to stick around a little later to press their demands, Hoyer said he and McConnell were in agreement. “There’s no magic about another week and he agreed on that,” he said.

Hoyer said even if a deal is passed next week, it would not necessarily be the end of federal help for the economy and he anticipated revisiting the issue in 2021 after Joe Biden enters the White House.

“I don’t know that any of us believe that if we pass something next week that gives relief to all the people I just mentioned, that it will be the last piece of COVID-19 legislation,” he said.

U.S. Unemployment Claims

Almost six million Americans filed a 'continued claim' for state unemployment insurance in mid-November, almost exceeding pre-pandemic records.

The 5.9million who have collected and applied for unemployment benefits still exceed any historical precedent, showing the many workers are still struggling nine months after the country first went into lockdown for the pandemic.   

"The numbers we're looking at now are [far higher than] anything we've seen before," Erica Groshen, former commissioner of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, explained to CNBC, adding, "We've never seen a shock like this."   

The figure, provided by the Labor Department, comes from the week November 14 and is close to a prior peak of 6.5million set in March 2009 during the Great Recession.   

Not reflected in the figures are seasonal adjustments, which allows for a better comparison of the statistics across time. 

The current level is triple what it was in February but down substantially from the 23million claims in May.

The share of those receiving jobless benefits currently does exceed the record set during the Great Recession. 5 million workers are receiving benefits via other programs after already exhausting their allotment of traditional unemployment insurance.  

Additionally, there are 9 million workers who are self-employed or are working as part of the gig economy. They are currently receiving benefits through the temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.  

Along with continued claims, initial claims are also seeing higher figures compared to past decades. 

On the week of November 21, there were around 828,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance filed, according to the Labor Department.  

This is down from the peak 6.2 million initial claims that were filed in early April, some four times pre-pandemic levels in February.  

There were another 312,000 workers who filed an initial claim through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. 

In 1982 and 1983, around 1 million workers filed for initial claims. Initial claims also historically peaked in 1975 when there were 969,000 claims; 957,000 in 2009; and 882,000 in 1992.  

Those high levels were mostly set in January, following holiday season or immediately after an economic downturn.    

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