Unemployment Benefits Cut by Wisconsin Lawmakers—What Evers Should Do Next

For the time being, the extra $300 being given weekly to those who receive unemployment benefits should remain. Thus, it is crucial that Evers veto the Wisconsin Republican lawmakers’ recent bill which eliminates said $300.

When the pandemic forced hundreds of thousands of people to be out of work, Congress decided to give an extra $600 weekly to anyone on unemployment. This amount was later reduced to an extra $300 of benefits per week. Now, as lawmakers pass legislation that would take away this extra help, it brings up the often-controversial topic of unemployment benefits.

Fulfilling the very basic costs of living became even more difficult during the pandemic. The Census Bureau survey data shows that at least 1 in 8 Americans did not have enough to eat in the week prior [to the survey] with 1 in 6 of those people living in a household with children.

In Wisconsin (not including the extra $300-$600), the minimum weekly unemployment benefit is $54, and the maximum is $370 per week. This means people would be receiving anywhere from $216 to $1480 per month. Between rent/mortgage payments, food, transportation and healthcare costs, not even the maximum number of benefits comes close to being a living wage, especially for someone with children. Many of these struggling people are still out of work and remain in dire need of assistance.

For the purpose of everyone’s health and wellbeing, the extra money was undeniably vital during the pandemic, and the board believes that is still the case. The last few months of the extra benefits would not only allow for thorough job searches, but also the recovery time that many people need. The heartbreaking anecdotes of people losing both of their parents to COVID, or the all-too-common mental health issues that developed with a year-long isolation prove that people need the extra help and time to heal.

However, the board knows there are many benefits to having a job. Such benefits include but are not limited to a sense of responsibility for contributing to society, the chance to learn new skills, meet new people, and (sometimes) healthcare benefits. Thus, we believe in a society that encourages people to seek work and would like to see some sort of job search requirement for those who receive benefits. In terms of the pandemic and the safety to work, the board believes that with the adamant number of vaccines available to all and the given time to make arrangements, these extra unemployment benefits should only last until September.

Anecdotally, businesses are struggling with being understaffed while also receiving very few applicants. Regardless of what the cause for that may be, the board sympathizes with businesses in these unfortunate staffing situations and understand the stress that comes with such issues. Whether this is due to people taking advantage of the unemployment benefits, as suggested by Republican lawmakers, is still unknown. The board believes the reasoning should be studied further as there is very limited data on the subject.

We believe the worry surrounding people “taking advantage” of unemployment benefits is problematic in itself. Similar to when Evers said, “Republicans could help draw more workers to the state if they invested in education, transit, health care…”, the board believes the government and society as a whole need to focus on creating systematic changes that do not allow one to be able to make more money on unemployment than a regular job.

We have a strong sense of hope systematic changes will be made, but the board does realize such changes are not going to made in a timely fashion. They will also not be simple decisions due to the worry and controversy surrounding raising wages and its possible drawbacks (e.g., rising consumer prices and fewer jobs). With consideration to the lack of data regarding the reasons for people not returning to work, the severity of the pandemic, and the large volume of people struggling, the board strongly urges Evers to veto the bill that revokes the extra unemployment benefits before its original end time of September.