Mass. unemployment – still

Next stimulus stuck in Washington

Massachusetts is slowly crawling up from the bottom of the unemployment barrel, with almost everyone agreeing another stimulus will help even more.

The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tally places the Bay State at seventh worst in the nation with a 9.6% jobless rate. The new nationwide figures were released Tuesday.

Vacation hot spots Hawaii (15.1%) and Nevada (12.6%) are the worst off, followed by California (11%), Rhode Island (10.5%), Illinois (10.2%) and New York (9.7%).

“As long as there’s a pandemic, there won’t be a full recovery,” said UMass Amherst economics professor David Kotz. “But another stimulus will help with the revival of the economy.”

Kotz, author of “The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism,” said those who are working are saving their money and many women are out of the workforce as they care for their children. Couple that with the high unemployment rate and the result is a dip in consumer spending.

More checks from Congress — on top of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that has mostly dried up — would prop up the economy in the short run, Kotz and others say.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday told fellow Republicans to avoid a pre-election deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to multiple reports.

Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke again Tuesday amid signs that they are continuing to narrow their differences, the Associated Press reports.

President Trump is pushing for a new deal and said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday that he was for a big package — even another $2.2 trillion.

“I want to do it even bigger than the Democrats. And not every Republican agrees with me, but they will,” Trump told Fox News.

The next proposed stimulus would include another $1,200 direct payment and assistance for schools, testing and vaccines.

No matter what happens Nov. 3, Kotz said the country is heading for a “radical reform of the economy.” If Trump is victorious, it will be an “authoritarian” reform; if Joe Biden is elected, it will be a “social democratic” shift.

It remains to be seen

‘As long as there’s a pandemic, there won’t be a full recovery. But another stimulus will help with the revival of the economy.’

DAVID KOTZ UMass Amherst economics professor

which way the country goes. But until the pandemic is quelled, the economic roller coaster is far from over.

AP FILE PHOTOS LOOKING FOR WORK: A ‘Now Hiring’ sign hangs in a Zara store windown in Miami Beach, Fla., and a shopper enters a closing Lord & Taylor department store in Northbrook, Ill., Massachusetts ranked seventh-worst in the nation for unemployment.