[Mick]

How many of these people will be getting more in unemployment than they were working?

Along with the moratorium on evictions, things are less dire for them than they were in the Depression, when there was a minimal safety net.

Virtually none.  I furloughed a secretary who was making $46k.  If she made the max ($450/wk unemployment+$600/wk stimulus), she'd be eligible for $54,600 annualized.  But the $600 stimulus payment is just for four months.  And she wasn't with us long enough to get the full $450.  Last hired, first fired, which is the way most of us handled these things.  If she remains long term unemployed, she'll get about $23,400 over the next 12 months. The $450 is fully taxable. The $600 is subject to federal income tax, but FICA/Medicare exempt.

Actual initial unemployment claims filed were 5.245 million, bringing the four week total to 22,034,000 unemployed. That's 14.2% of the workforce, added to the pre-pandemic 3.5%, making 17.7%.  It took two years of the worst economy in America's industrial age to reach that level, and we reached it in just four weeks.

[Mick]

How many of these people will be getting more in unemployment than they were working?

Along with the moratorium on evictions, things are less dire for them than they were in the Depression, when there was a minimal safety net.

Virtually none.  I furloughed a secretary who was making $46k.  If she made the max ($450/wk unemployment+$600/wk stimulus), she'd be eligible for $54,600 annualized.  But the $600 stimulus payment is just for four months.  And she wasn't with us long enough to get the full $450.  Last hired, first fired, which is the way most of us handled these things.  If she remains long term unemployed, she'll get about $23,400 over the next 12 months. The $450 is fully taxable. The $600 is subject to federal income tax, but FICA/Medicare exempt.

Actual initial unemployment claims filed were 5.245 million, bringing the four week total to 22,034,000 unemployed. That's 14.2% of the workforce, added to the pre-pandemic 3.5%, making 17.7%.  It took two years of the worst economy in America's industrial age to reach that level, and we reached it in just four weeks.