Redpoint, the only vertical line that I see is the one under my cursor:
Right, so a friend posted on Facebook that since unemployment is now paying $600 a week, the government determined that people need at least that much to live.
People only make the most logical and best-researched arguments on social media!
Imagine this bright and shiny future: You are craving highly-processed food, so you have your car drive you to the McDonald's Box. You order on your phone, connect to the Box, and the McCannon fires your order through the window.
Your car drives you back home automatically.
As soon as I found out that everyone approved for unemployment would receive a $600 a week bonus I started complaining. Arizona normally pays $240 a week. I have had worse weeks, but I can see it being difficult to pay your bills at that rate, but people are supposed to be actively looking for work. My sister that thinks that living in California is a great idea [!] started talking crazy about a living wage.
Unemployment is not supposed to be a living wage! Why are they potentially paying more than people earned?!
Nineteen states still have $7.25 minimum wages. Georgia and Wyoming have $5.15 wages, although "Employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the $7.25 Federal minimum wage." Is that enough?
I have no idea.
The minimum unemployment payment varies between $5 in Hawaii and $178 in Washington per week. The maximum unemployment payment varies between $235 in Mississippi to $795 in Massachusetts. Hopefully most people in Hawaii receive more than the minimum because that would hardly do any good. I do not know how far $235 a week would go in Mississippi [or $240 in Arizona], but it gives you a chance. I have absolutely no problem with the maximum being over forty times the minimum wage. If I have a nice professional job I have every reason to buy a moderate house and car.
There is no way you could make your payments for less than $1,000 a month. If you paid unemployment for the required time then I am sure that two or three thousand is perfectly reasonable. For example, in order to receive $823 a week in Massachusetts (the other site lied saying it was $795!) you need to average $1,645 a week for 15 months. You are eligible for a maximum of six months.
Fine.
However, everyone currently eligible for unemployment in Hawaii will receive $605 - $1,230, the equivalent of 59.9 – 121.78 hours of the minimum wage. Everyone currently eligible for unemployment in Massachusetts will receive $645 - $1,395, the equivalent of 50.59 – 109.41 hours of the minimum wage. Mississippi will pay $630 - $835, the equivalent of 86.9 – 115.17 hours of the minimum wage. Washington will pay $778 - $1,349, the equivalent of 57.63 –99.93 hours of the minimum wage. So, someone laid off from a full-time job that paid the minimum wage will receive 25 – 200% more. Is that what the government determined was the minimum livable wage?
Absolutely not.
I feel that the $600 a week was the simplest way to help tens of millions of people. How long would it take to verify the last year of pay and financial needs for 50,000,000 people?
Sources:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/ho...are-determined
https://www.paycor.com/resource-cent...-wage-by-state
https://singlemotherguide.com/unemployment-insurance/