Unemployed Action

EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE TO SUPPORT WORKERS AND KEEP THE ECONOMY AFLOAT

Call your Senator. Get connected by texting "Unemployed" to 747464 OR by calling 1-888-668-8919.

Unemployed Action is a movement by and for unemployed workers and their families. We're fighting for Congress to extend the $600 weekly unemployment benefit, increase funding to the states to process claims faster, and expand benefits to communities that have been excluded.

At the end of July, millions of families will have $600 less each week to make ends meet if Congress lets the emergency Unemployment Insurance boost from the CARES Act expire. It is critical that Congress extend these benefits at a desperate time for more than 30 million people. 

Unemployment Insurance is keeping the economy afloat. We are the economy. 
The economy is workers, families, and communities paying their bills, buying goods and services, and caring for their families--and it’s only afloat right now because Americans who have lost their jobs are receiving Unemployment Insurance. UI benefits currently provide14.6% of wage and salary income in 2020, whereas it only provided 0.3% in October 2019 and 2.6% post Great Recession. Drastically cutting incomes for millions of people, who will then have less to spend at grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses, will catalyze a second wave of layoffs and more economic hardship for millions of families. In fact, slashing UI alone will cost us another 5.1 million jobs over the next year.

Unemployment Insurance is saving lives. 
Our first priority in a global pandemic needs to be peoples’ health. UI helps cover basic expenses until it is safe to go back to work. Conservatives are putting profits over people and rushing to reopen before we have stabilized the public health crisis, endangering everyone, but especially workers of color and women who are disproportionately concentrated in essential jobs. Furthermore, rushing to reopen is catalyzing new waves of rising cases in many states, which may lead to additional stay at home orders and even more workers relying on UI.

Cutting Unemployment Insurance is an attack on Black and Brown workers.
Decades of systemic racism have pushed Black and Latinx workers into the least secure jobs. Now Black and Brown workers are bearing the brunt of this crisis: they are overrepresented among “essential” frontline workers risking their lives and health on the job; they are among the last to be rehired when they get laid off; and they have the smallest financial cushions to help weather the storm.   Expanding PUC significantly lowered poverty rates for Black and Brown people -- cutting it off will shove them back below the poverty line, compounding housing crises and food insecurity for these families.