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How Unemployment Impacted Millennials During Coronavirus - YouTube
Channel: CNBC Make It
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When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down
the economy, one of the first
[4]
things on everyone's mind
was: Jobs, jobs, jobs!
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That's what it's about. The pandemic
created the biggest spike in
[12]
unemployment in U.S.
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history between the end of March
and the beginning of August.
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Over one million people have
applied for unemployment insurance each
[21]
week. At its height, nearly 15
percent of working Americans were
[25]
unemployed because of
the massive influx.
[28]
Millions of people reported their
unemployment benefits, which they
[32]
have paid tax towards for years, were
delayed or never came at all.
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In total, over 50 million
Americans filed for unemployment insurance
[40]
since the pandemic
implemented shutdown began.
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And unlike in many other wealthy
countries, Americans depend on their
[46]
jobs not just to pay for food
and housing, but also for health care.
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And that has meant that millions
have lost their jobs, their incomes
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and their health insurance during
a public health emergency.
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No doubt the Covid pandemic laid
bare the critical role of our
[63]
unemployment system as well
as its flaws.
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Each generation has felt the weight of
the pandemic in their own way.
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But young workers have
likely been impacted.
[73]
Most of all. Millennials who are currently
between the ages of 24 and
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38 are often said to be
the most overworked and underpaid generation.
[82]
Many are still recovering from the
2008 financial crisis, and now
[86]
millennials may be the hardest hit
group by the economic turmoil of
[89]
the pandemic. I have
two children in
[95]
Puerto Rico and I need
to send the child support.
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Luckily for me, my friend offered for me
to stay with him for free so
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I don't have to worry about rent.
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What I'm experienced to do no longer
pertains to the world that we're
[109]
living in right now. The opportunities
are not there as much as
[113]
before. Unemployment rates have hovered
around four to five percent
[116]
over the past five years.
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But when state governments were forced
to close down the economy to
[121]
stop the spread of covid,
that percentage spiked since March.
[126]
Nearly 50 million people
filed for unemployment.
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Unemployment in the U.S.
[131]
is currently over 10 percent, but
millions have still not received
[134]
the benefits they qualify for,
according to an analysis by
[137]
ProPublica, just 24 percent of jobless
white workers, 22 percent of
[142]
Hispanic workers and just 13 percent
of jobless Black workers have
[146]
received unemployment benefits
during the pandemic.
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Initially, it was received that this
is the right thing to do.
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We need in order to deal with
the pandemic, we need people to stand
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down and we need
to slow the economy.
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Analysts, lawmakers and unemployed
Americans quickly realized
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traditional unemployment checks were simply
not going to be enough.
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And they fear that the economic
reality for millions of Americans
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could get worse, a lot worse.
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I think, unfortunately, we haven't seen
the the biggest part of this
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crisis yet, the unprecedented intervention
to do an eviction
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moratorium and things like that.
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Those are eventually going
to run out.
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And when that happens, you know, people
are going to start facing the
[190]
demand side shock here of, you know, how
am I going to make my rent
[194]
right now? I'm not paying my rent.
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So they will be evicted and become
homeless, which will put a demand
[199]
on our homeless shelters and other
support services that help those
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who do not have a place to live.
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It's going to be the terrifying point
at which we have to start really
[207]
thinking about bigger solutions like
a UBI throughout this crisis.
[212]
UBI stands for "Universal Basic Income,"
a system in which governments
[216]
give cash directly to
citizens, no strings attached.
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But let's back up for a second.
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Federal and state unemployment insurance
was established in 1935 when
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
the Social Security Act.
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Today, each state and territory has
its own way of handling benefits,
[233]
which means there are 53
different unemployment systems in the
[236]
country. Typically, unemployed people receive
payments for up to six
[240]
months as long as they're
actively searching for work.
[243]
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment
was used as a temporary
[247]
solution to compensate about half of
workers wages in between jobs.
[251]
Generally, unemployment has hovered around
four to five percent over
[254]
the past five years. But the
Covid-19 pandemic has created a massive
[259]
backup in the unemployment system.
[261]
Our current unemployment insurance system
is not designed for these
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kinds of prolonged recessions.
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It's really designed to help a
worker who leaves one job to
[273]
transition to the next job.
[274]
This design made online filing
for unemployment during the pandemic
[278]
impossible. In some
states, websites crashed.
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People made hundreds of calls and
waited in spiraling lines just to
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file their claims. At the beginning
[it] was so difficult because
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this system collapse often.
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My husband, when he filed unemployment,
he only received a letter.
[298]
He never received the money.
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Our unemployment insurance offices are
working on rather antiquated
[303]
technology. It actually took 12 to 13
weeks for me to receive my
[308]
payment. Hundreds and hundreds, probably
a thousand phone calls to
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unemployment just to simply file.
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I know a lot of flight
attendants didn't receive their unemployment
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longer than I had.
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They still haven't. It
was a real nightmare.
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Workers really need this money now.
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Many, many households are on
the verge of eviction.
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Numbers on new evictions coming up.
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Millions of Americans are
at risk of eviction.
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These people are paying
rent to landlords.
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Landlords have to
pay their mortgages.
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They have to pay
their property taxes.
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That ripples through the economy.
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In March of 2020, the federal
government issued the Coronavirus Aid,
[342]
Relief and Economic Security Act, better
known as the CARES Act.
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The CARES Act, extended unemployment
benefits, widen the eligibility
[351]
enrollment pool and provided an
unprecedented $600 per week boost
[355]
that each unemployed person would receive
on top of their state
[358]
unemployment benefits.
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Republican administrations have done
this, Democratic administrations
[362]
have done this, giving massive stimulus
checks all at the same time
[366]
do stimulate the economy and keeps
the bottom from falling out.
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Probably the only thing that's keeping
this economy afloat right now
[371]
is that extra was that extra six
hundred bucks, that $600 a week
[375]
figure wasn't pulled from thin air.
[377]
The median weekly pay in the
United States is roughly $1000.
[381]
And our current unemployment insurance
program is designed to replace
[385]
roughly 40 percent of
a worker's previous wages.
[389]
The extra $600 was calculated to
ensure that the average worker had
[393]
100 percent of their previous wages replaced
in that $600 has been a
[399]
lifeline for millions of Americans.
[401]
I very much depended on that
extra $600 weekly to feed
[407]
myself, to pay my bills, pay my
rent, take care of my dog.
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This wasn't an extra kicker where let
me buy a new Gucci bag.
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The $600 stimulus boost, it was
honestly a boost to our lives.
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Six hundred dollars, isn't-- since it's
already gone, it's not going
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to help me in the long run.
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It's not. Like I'll
be, probably get more
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money if I just find
a job even in retail.
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I can tell you right now I'm behind
one month in Puerto Rico with my
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child support. You know, literally, I
use the stimulus check for, you
[446]
know, send it to
my kids over there.
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Researchers at the University of
Chicago estimate that roughly two
[452]
thirds of unemployed workers made
more from enhanced unemployment
[455]
insurance than they did
when they were working.
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And this has created a controversy
between those who say the extra
[460]
money will dis incentivize people from
working and those who say how
[464]
crucial the extra money was
demonstrates that unemployment and the
[468]
minimum wage were not high
enough to begin with.
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The consumer, who many cases is
making more money with unemployment
[475]
than they were with their regular salary,
is in a better place for as
[480]
long as that lives. The concern is
that there is a disincentive for
[483]
workers to take a job.
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They say to themselves, "Hey, I'm
making more by taking unemployment
[488]
benefits than I would be
if I were actually working."
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What it doesn't incorporate is
psychology and actual human behavior.
[497]
People actually want and
need to work.
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This idea that unemployed people are,
"lazy" has long been leveraged
[504]
against low income
workers and millennials.
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I'm a millennial. We have now been
hit with two of the biggest once-in
[511]
-a-century, economic hits within 10 years
and already coming out of
[516]
the Great Recession, our earning
power was significantly lessened.
[520]
Our ability to build equity
and assets was significantly lessened
[523]
because we came out to a poor,
extremely poor, you know, eight, nine,
[528]
10 percent unemployment economy with
stagnant wages for another five,
[532]
six years. And then
we have this happen.
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And because of these economic setbacks
in 2008 and today, many
[538]
millennials have been forced to
delay traditional markers of
[541]
adulthood, such as buying a home,
starting a family or getting
[545]
married. My husband and I really do
want to have kids, but it would
[549]
be a financial burden on us.
[551]
I want to have stability.
[553]
I want to be able to
not live paycheck to paycheck.
[556]
It will also mean that they don't
have the cushion to invest in their
[559]
children. So I would expect to
see some impact on the next
[563]
generation. And even as states
begin re-opening efforts, it's unclear
[568]
if there are jobs for unemployed
workers to return to, especially
[572]
jobs that are disproportionately held
by millennials without college
[575]
degrees such as retail
and service industry roles.
[578]
I'm in a bit of a pickle right
now because what I'm experienced to do
[583]
no longer pertains to the world
that we're living in right now.
[586]
Our airline reduced our hours
drastically due to Covid.
[590]
I want to say 60 to 90
percent of our flights were reduced.
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I apply for at least for two
or three different jobs daily, but nobody
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call you. It is a stereotype to
just think that people that maybe do
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not make as much
are just squandering money.
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You know, they're people like myself
that are working very hard, you
[614]
know, to not only make
money, but help other people.
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We've never had a situation in
which the government has told
[621]
businesses they can't operate.
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And so there's a unique justification
here that the you know, that
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the government should compensate you for
being told you can't operate
[629]
or for being told you
can't go to work.
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Most economists that I know believe
that the federal government needs
[634]
to continue this form of support.
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We have not reached the
end of this pandemic.
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That $600 payment had a dramatic
role in minimizing the hardships
[644]
caused by closing down the economy.
[646]
And that's because unemployment benefits
don't just help a singular
[650]
individual. They keep families
afloat, encourage spending, support
[654]
local jobs, and help local governments
continue to fund schools and
[657]
public services. It all
comes back around.
[661]
This is the same logic proponents of
UBI use, and it's the same logic
[665]
behind the $1200 stimulus checks that
were given to Americans making
[669]
less than $75,000 back in April.
[673]
Experts say these checks gave Americans
crucial cash when they needed
[676]
it most. People like to point out that
these lump sums are a taste of
[681]
universal basic income.
[682]
But I'm willing to bet that after that,
people are going to be so used
[685]
to the idea of having that sort
of risk, support for all people.
[690]
It's going to be beneficial.
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We sure. The past. Over months
of elevated unemployment may have given
[694]
us a taste of future problems,
people such as former presidential
[698]
candidate Andrew Yang have long
raised concerns that automation could
[702]
create sustained,
elevated unemployment.
[704]
Yang's solution is to
send Americans cash directly.
[709]
Sound familiar? In this way, the
pandemic may have given us our
[712]
biggest experiment with UBI yet.
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