As city’s jobless rate climbs, Ganim seeks fewer benefits
BRIDGEPORT — The jobless rate in Connecticut’s largest city nearly doubled in the early weeks of the new coronavirus pandemic, from 5.6 percent to 10.6 percent, according to state labor data.
As of April, 6,676 Bridgeport residents were out of work — the highest total of all municipalities — versus 3,886 in March.
Still, Mayor Joe Ganim on Tuesday and again Thursday criticized the extra $600 per person in federal unemployment benefits enacted in response to the massive layoffs and furloughs the health crisis triggered.
“A lot of people aren’t going back to work because they’re making more at unemployment,” Ganim said during his daily Facebook address Tuesday. He said his administration was having trouble filling 30 temporary, $15-an-hour seasonal openings.
Businesses and government offices were temporarily closed in a nationwide effort to combat the fatal virus’ spread. Connecticut has begun a cautious economic reopening that, unless infections spike, will continue in phases this summer.
Ganim, a Democrat, did not cite his sources on the contention people make more on unemployment than going back to work, but the University of Chicago, according to MarketWatch, found 68 percent of the nation’s jobless can earn more by receiving the additional $600 approved in March as part of the federal COVID-19 CARES Act than on a normal salary.
“It’s just not the way it should be working and someone needs to say something about it,” Ganim said.
Republicans at the national level have already been questioning the continued need for the $600 increase. Although that benefit is scheduled to expire July 31, another relief package the Democratmajority U.S. House of Representatives passed in mid-May extended the deadline to January.
GOP lawmakers have said they want to reduce unemployment for the exact reasons Ganim cited.
“If you’re paying people to stay home, that is counter-productive to what we want to do for re-energizing, getting the economy going again,” Ganim said Tuesday. Decisions to return to work “shouldn’t be based on, ‘Oh, I can make another $400, $500 if I just stay home’ — taxpayer dollars — if there’s a job opportunity ready and available for people.”
Unlike those facing unemployment, Ganim is set to receive a raise from $152,855 to $155,912 on July 1, as per the recently-passed city budget.
Asked Thursday by the Connecticut Post if he had an alternative suggestion for augmenting unemployment benefits given COVID-19 remains a threat for the foreseeable future, Ganim during that day’s Facebook address did not offer one. And he disputed Bridgeport’s jobless figures.
“I’m not putting a lot of stock in any numbers right now,” the mayor said. “A lot of people — might be the most in history — have applied for unemployment benefits. And because of the increased amount (of benefits) even more people have probably decided to apply. … I don’t like the dis-incentive . ... I’ve heard it from business, restaurant owners saying, ‘They don’t want to come back.’ ”
In response to the mayor’s comments this week, City Council President Aidee Nieves, also a Democrat, argued there are other reasons Ganim’s constituents may not want to return to their jobs. She said Thursday that a relative had to turn down work at Dunkin’ Donuts because the pandemic shuttered child care facilities and she needs to take care of her young daughter.
Nieves said others are offered reduced hours because virus-related building occupancy restrictions aimed at separating the public mean fewer customers. But, Nieves noted, “If you’re a waitress or waiter and not making the tips, the rent, the light bill doesn’t change because of your income.”
Personal health and safety also remain an issue without a virus vaccine,
Nieves said: “Do they want to go back and bring something back home to children and family members?”
Ganim in his Thursday Facebook address said, “I don’t want to criticize anyone who’s afraid to take that risk going back into the workplace. The premise is the place should be safe. That all the knowledge, expertise and protocols are put into place as we do this re-opening. Is it 100 percent? I don’t think anything is 100 percent. But those (safety measures) should be there.”
State Rep. Chris Rosario, D-Bridgeport, said of Ganim’s criticism of the extra $600 of unemployment compensation, “People were hurting before the pandemic — food insecure and underemployed. This (health crisis) was the knockout blow. To tell people, ‘Hey, brush yourselves off, we’re back open’ — that’s not the case. The most vulnerable need all the help they can get.”
“I don’t know one person at home just sitting on their butt,” Rosario added. “People are homeschooling kids, taking care of loved ones, elderly family members.”
Joe Brennan, head of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said that organization has taken no formal position, but he has heard from manufacturers, car dealers and stores of “employees telling them directly, ‘I’m making more money at home.’ ”
“We’re in unprecedented times and the federal government was looking to help out people to try to keep them more whole,” Brennan said Thursday. “We get the sentiment behind it. But if we’re starting to reopen businesses, it’s a problem.”
Roger Senserrich is a spokesperson for the Connecticut Working Families third party that tried, unsuccessfully, to run state Sen. Marilyn Moore, DBridgeport, against Ganim in last year’s mayoral contest.
“The fact that people are making more on unemployment than they were on their jobs means their jobs were not paying enough to begin with,” he said.
Senserrich argued the additional $600 was also intended to keep the public home for an extended period to help thwart COVID-19.
“We want people to stay home if they can, at least for a while,” he said. “It’s by design. We don’t want to reopen too quickly.”
Includes prior reporting from the Associated Press and MarketWatch.