In March 2020, the great United States locked down. Each state governor left to implement and determine what job would be considered “essential” and “non-essential.” Essential employees deemed absolutely vital in a state of emergency or natural disaster such as public service, healthcare, and emergency service workers while non-essential employees, and the loss of them working, would neither affect nor impact the infrastructure of the city, state, and/or country.
In Massachusetts, medical marijuana was ruled essential while in the state of South Carolina it remains illegal.
Other odd businesses that remained “essential” by state:
- Indiana: Pawnshops
- Wisconsin & Ohio: Weddings
- Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio, & Nevada: Marijuana
- Connecticut: Landscaping
And pretty much everywhere: liquor stores (which spiked in sales during lock down).
So while in some states, random services were deemed essential, in most they were not; all over the country unemployment rate spiked. The laboring class left.. jobless.
But was this such a bad thing? If you weren’t a business owner or didn’t get paid under the table.. How bad was it to receive unemployment? With courthouses closed and orders signed, the risk for eviction ceased and citizens sat at home not only collecting unemployment with an included $600.00/week benefit, extra food supplement (food-stamps) benefits per household size, AND a fat $1,200 Trump issued surplus check.
An extra $600.00/week benefit with unemployment
As someone that has continuously worked in the healthcare industry, do you know how much more money I would have been making on unemployment? The company I work for has hired non-stop since COVID19. In fact, due to the COVID19, the company needed me to work more. With technology in place, we were able to continue to address health, substance abuse, and mental health needs. While nothing replaces human contact, it prevented a complete collapse of business. Furthermore, various positions opened:
- Work from home opportunities
- No experience necessary entry-level (high-school diploma minimum)
- NPs DOs
and more. Every level of education or lack there of education, and work from home opportunities all combined.
So why weren’t we able to hire? How are we supposed to compete with unemployment checks? An entry level position, but a crucial member to the team (scheduling, fielding calls, data entry), does not pay near what unemployment, food-stamp supplements (plus surplus) and health insurance benefits do… even unemployment alone. I did the math. I’d have made more on unemployment, sitting home. I joked with my boss during these months saying “you know, if you’d just fire me I’d make more money.” Luckily she’s a good sport, and would reply “yah good luck with that, you’re not going anywhere.”
Do I understand the wait for a back check from unemployment can be long? Yes. Do I understand the mental health effects of being furloughed or losing your job causes tremendous stress? Yes. Do I recognize that many didn’t qualify for unemployment due to being self-employed/ sub-contracted or paid under the table? Yes. I am not belittling these facts.
But I also understand that evictions were put off long enough to get those back checks, and continuous checks, and like myself, the surplus check could have gone to rent/mortgage, car insurance, etc.. etc.. not that new TV.
I also want to mention that not only did I work the entire time, but I also put myself and my family at risk every day.. for lesser pay than a HUGE population sitting home playing on Facebook. Am I a bit salty about it? Yea, I’d say so. Did we work short staffed dragging even our kids into work (because of course, school-aged day-cares are scarce or shut down due to COVID19) because the pay is way better on unemployment? Yes we did. Am I thankful I could continue to work and pay bills- oh very much so.
Luckily, I love my career. I love what I do. I love and am so thankful that my boss was so fluid and quick to put in COVID19 safety measures.
We’re still hiring… Trying to compete with the $600.00 a week surplus on unemployment. July 31, 2020 can’t come soon enough.
-Opinion submitted to Panik Politics-
