Poverty inside a pandemic
Food, shelter top list of needs for many unemployed during COVID-19
When Robin Williams cooks chicken for dinner, it’s a treat because her budget does not usually allow for that. “We eat a lot of hamburger,” said the 57-year-old grandmother, who worked as a server at the Cracker Barrel in Roseville before restaurants were closed across the state to thwart the spread of COVID-19.
She and her family have since been riding out the coronavirus storm in a single hotel room with two double beds and a bathroom.
“I have my two teenage granddaughters living with me. My daughter is renting a home in Detroit but, for financial reasons and because the hotel is close to the girls’ school, they have been staying here with me,” Williams said.
Then she smiled. No matter how cramped their quarters might be, her granddaughters have never complained and she knows it is better than living on the streets.
“Financially, it’s been a real struggle,” Williams said. “I have to pay for the room every day and by the time I’m done there is not much left.”
As a server she earned minimum wage, plus tips - about $20,700 a year. The poverty level is $22,000.
Despite her earnings, Williams said she was managing a household and her and her daughter had hopes of eventually finding a house they could rent. But that was before COVID-19. When restaurants were closed down and left with an abundance of food but no customers, her boss allowed her to take home whatever food she wanted. That helped tremendously, for a while.
She also has access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) but there are still days when she doesn’t know where her next meal might come from.
Coronavirus and poverty
More than 14% of the state’s population lives below the poverty line, ac
cording to an annual study of poverty by county by the University of Michigan.
The numbers are expected to go higher, at least in the short term, as the pandemic continues and sectors of the economy struggle to reopen and replace lost jobs and incomes.
In southeast Michigan, the poverty level varies widely, from 21.7% in Wayne County to 11% in Macomb County and 8.2% in Oakland County.
The poverty level is higher among individuals age 18 and under. The statewide rate is 19.6%. Among southeast Michigan counties, it’s 32.4% in Wayne County, 16% in Macomb County and 9.6% in Oakland County.
If there are two areas symbolizing the impact to the state and local economy from the continuing pandemic, it’s in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits and food assistance.
Unemployment
Jobless claims topped 1 million in Michigan in late April. While the number of claims in the state system has declined a bit in early May, a record number of people remain unemployed as parts of Michigan’s economy reopen.
A one-time federal government stimulus check of $1,200 didn’t do much for many people struggling to pay bills and buy food after sudden layoffs or furloughs, and the state’s unemployment system has experienced backlogs and glitches from the unprecedented number of filers accessing the system.
As a single mother working for minimum wage, Williams has always lived on a shoestring budget, but her gratuities often supplemented her poor wages. Being laid off she has had to rely on unemployment benefits and it doesn’t cover much.
The COVID-19 crisis and increased jobless claims made more people aware of the shortcomings of Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system, but a report by the Michigan League for Public Policy (MLPP) said they’ve been there all along, due to decades of inaction and bad policy, according to the MLPP, a nonprofit policy institute focused on economic opportunity for all and the only state-level organization that addresses poverty in a comprehensive way.
“With COVID-19 putting unemployment in the spotlight, it’s important to understand the cards that the governor — and Michigan workers — were dealt by the previous administration and Legislature. This system has been broken for a long time, and for years the League has pushed for changes to UI that help workers as the Legislature has made changes that hurt workers,” said Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the MLPP. “We’re glad to see that federal funding and Gov. Whitmer’s executive orders are making a difference during the COVID-19 crisis, but permanent updates to the system have to be made if we want workers and their families to stay healthy when they’re without a job.”
As shown by the study, the state’s maximum weekly UI benefit has not been increased since 2002.
The current state UI benefit provides unemployed workers with, at most, just 35% of the average weekly wage in Michigan — or $362, which falls well short of federal recommendations. According to the United Way’s ALICE household survival budget, the average single adult in