It's not great, either. Leisure industry added 292k jobs despite "labor shortage," last month revised up only slightly, labor force shrank a little
Economists expected 671k jobs, and we got 559k. A small disappointment even though it's better than any month in the entire decade before the pandemic.
No Democrat had said September would be the right time for the extra benefits to end. They pushed it back from August so Congress would be in session and they could extend the benefits again.
Biden said today it "makes sense" for the benefits to end then. So it shall be.
.@Phil_Lewis_ and I talked to US labor secretary Marty Walsh, who would prefer if people didn’t flip out about tomorrow’s jobs report huffpost.com/entry/marty-wa…
Last month’s bad report might have been a fluke, and will def be revised, but it had real consequences as red states rushed to cancel extra unemployment benefits.
Bernie Sanders has said Walsh should use his legal authority to keep the benefits flowing. DOL hasn’t said much about this.
Big flip flop by 16 Republicans who cosponsored a commission bill in January, then voted against a very similar commission bill yesterday huffpost.com/entry/republic…
The bills have similar commission setup, w/ an equal party split, and the same subpoena power.
“It’s a whole different situation,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told me.
It's not that different!
One difference is the GOP bill woulda let 2 members of Congress serve on the commission.
Another is the GOP bill woulda given the commission 18 months to file its report, probably be LESS advantageous to Republicans than the House-passed bill, which calls for report this year.
The stimulus checks seem to have gotten some SSI recipients in trouble because their bank accounts were too high huffpost.com/entry/economic…
If you're on SSI you can't have more than $2,000 in your bank account. Congress hasn't updated that since 1989.
Stimulus checks aren't supposed to count, but when Social Security peeks at your account it only sees the balance, so that's when the trouble can start.
I talked an SSI recipient in Philadelphia whose benefits will be cut 10% until Social Security gets back the thousands it says he was overpaid last year after he got the CARES Act stimmy.
Joe Biden doesn't wanna fight the Republican governors canceling unemployment benefits huffpost.com/entry/joe-bide…
Bernie Sanders and labor experts say text of the law actually requires the Biden admin to keep paying the gig worker benefits that states are canceling along with the extra $300.
The administration response is basically hmm okay
Weird parallel:
Congress let the extra $600 die last summer so Trump made a $300 replacement, pretty much out of thin air.
Now states are killing a $300 supplement and Biden is declining to use a probably much sounder legal power to save it.
“There is not a shortage of willing workers in America. There is a shortage of employers willing to pay workers a living wage with decent benefits.” huffpost.com/entry/unemploy…
Sanders says the Biden administration can save the gig worker unemployment benefits because the text of the CARES Act says the DOL secretary "shall" pay those benefits.
Either DOL makes states keep the benefits or pays itself.
No comment from DOL yet...
I must say the possibility of DOL saving PUA gig workers benefits is a big deal.
MORE people are on PUA than regular state unemployment.
Folks on state UI will lose the $300 but keep their state bennies. Those on PUA will go to zero.