Workers in need face dire outlook
The Labor Day holiday provides for many workers a welcome respite as the summer of COVID comes to a close. But while there have been some gains for workers, including in Connecticut, the overall picture of the labor market remains bleak six months into a pandemic that no one could have seen coming.
The state’s minimum wage increased to $12 an hour Sept. 1, part of a series of gradual increases that will bring the level to $15 an hour by 2023. Business owners may not like it, but workers at the bottom of the pay scale have welcomed the extra wages as a way to make ends meet, especially in tough economic times. Because aside from the minimum wage, the job situation is dire.
The United States added about 1.4 million jobs in August, according to reports issued on Friday, bringing the unemployment rate down to 8.4 percent. That’s an improvement, but job totals remain far below where they were at the start of the year before the pandemic hit, and it’s not hard to understand why. Many businesses, including bars and entertainment venues, haven’t been open in months, and there’s no sign they’ll be back in the near future.
That has an effect beyond the businesses themselves and can hurt entire districts that depend on nightlife or pedestrian traffic. Even as strictures have been reduced, the need to contain COVID remains a top priority, which inevitably hurts businesses.
What was not inevitable was the reaction of Congress to the continued economic stagnation. After a series of bold moves in the spring to keep laid-off workers afloat, additional aid to the unemployed has been allowed to expire. Senate Republicans have yet to act on a bill passed months ago by the Democrat-led House of Representatives, leaving millions of workers in limbo. The need for help clearly hasn’t ended, but the will to get it done is nowhere to be found.
That means considerable danger for people who find themselves among the ranks of the long-term unemployed. Studies have shown that the longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to get back in. Discrimination against people who have been out of a job for an extended period is depressingly common, and it’s easy for despair to set in. It’s a dynamic we saw repeatedly play out during the Great Recession, and it’s something that can’t be allowed to happen again during this crisis.
While a three-day weekend is a nice break that marks a change of seasons, it’s important to remember that the coronavirus crisis is far from over. We can only hope next year won’t have another summer of COVID. We need to be acting now to keep workers whole who have lost everything to the deadly pandemic. The coming winter, which will see restaurant attendance decrease as outdoor dining ends, could add a whole new dimension to the crisis.
More help is needed, and it needs to happen now. The Senate must get about the business of helping the American worker.