There was a short-lived debate in Congress a few weeks ago over expanding unemployment insurance as part of the CARES Act. While most wanted to replace laid off workers' earnings as quickly as possible, some senators worried this could disincentivize work https://thedispatch.com/p/supercharged-unemployment-insurance

Section 2104 of the bill added "an additional amount of $600" per week to workers' existing, state-based unemployment benefits.

"If we had the ability to customize this with much more specifics, we would have," Treasury Sec. Mnuchin said.

https://thedispatch.com/p/supercharged-unemployment-insurance

But for some laid off workers, these new provisions, which expire 7/31, mean they'll make more $ on unemployment than they would by returning to work.

"The pull for me is strong to just say, ‘Okay, I’m going to take a nice paycheck, it’s double what I’ve been making," one said.

A behavioral therapist in Wisconsin told @thedispatch his biweekly earnings are set to increase by over $700.

https://thedispatch.com/p/supercharged-unemployment-insurance

At a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, no one can or should blame workers for taking full advantage of the benefits made available to them through July. In fact, the generous unemployment package was designed to serve dual purposes:

Not only will workers out of a job be able to continue feeding their families, paying their bills, and spending in their local communities, but the increased weekly dollar figure could play a role in flattening the coronavirus curve by keeping more Americans at home.

But our comatose economy is being propped up by a small subset of workers—health care professionals, truck drivers, grocery store cashiers—and would further implode if they decided to stay on the sidelines, though there’s thankfully little evidence of that yet.

The eventual recovery—whenever it comes—will inevitably take much longer if workers are completely untethered from their places of employment. And for small businesses essentially barred from generating $ at the moment, the typical refrain of “raise wages” falls on deaf ears.

“Workers who lost their jobs should get 100 percent of their pay with generous unemployment benefits during this emergency, but Washington shouldn’t incentivize unemployment when we’re on the brink of economic meltdown,” @SenSasse told @thedispatch.