A bar owner in Maryland said her employees won't come back to work because they make more money from coronavirus relief aid. In the...
A bar owner in Maryland said her employees won't come back to work because they make more money from coronavirus relief aid.
In the days leading up the Maryland's reopening, Melony Wagner hoped to unlock the doors to Charles Village Pub and Patio in Baltimore.
But she told WBFF he staffers who are collecting unemployment aid aren't eager to come back to work.
'They don't want to because it's less money. I'm not even angry or upset I understand,' said Wagner.
'Why would you want to come back and actually work and make half as much money and you're working as you can get to stay home?'
The owner of Charles Village Pub said her employees don't want to come back to work because they make more money from coronaivirus stimulus checks
Melony Wagner (pictured): 'Why would you want to come back and actually work and make half as much money and you're working as you can get to stay home?'
Under the $2.2trillion coronavirus stimulus package passed as part of the CARES Act, unemployed residents receive an additional $600 a week.
The provision is set to end in July, but Democrats in Senate have pushed forward a second coronavirus stimulus package worth $3trillion that would last through January. It was approved by the House on Friday.
Economist Anirban Basu admitted that federal aid has made it hard for businesses in the private sector hoping to bring back staffers.
Like other states, the coronavirus pandemic temporarily shuttered businesses in Maryland during lockdown orders. Pictured: Health care workers accompany a patient as he leaves The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore
'Because the federal government's unemployment benefits are reasonably generous, $600 a week on top of ones state unemployment insurance benefits there might be some folks who decide I'm not really going to go back to work until August,' he said.
Basu anticipates more employees will be willing to return to work once federal aid runs dry.
Wagner hopes that her employees choose to come back.
Wagner (pictured); 'know everybody loves the extra $600 a week it's really had the opposite effect of what I think they were hoping it would have'
'It's a very difficult position to be put in right now honestly. I know everybody loves the extra $600 a week it's really had the opposite effect of what I think they were hoping it would have,' she said.
As of Saturday evening, Charles Village Pub and Patio's Facebook page revealed the bar was performing take out carryout orders this week.
It's unclear how many staffers returned to their post at the pub after Gov. Larry Hogan allowed Maryland to reopen on Friday.
Although each jurisdiction can choose when they reopen, Baltimore County, where Charles Village Pub is located, began Phase One with this week.
Businesses can reopen under certain restrictions, including that retailers use curbside pickup instead of in-person meetings.
Meanwhile, nearly 2.98 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims last week, according to the Labor Department.
It adds to the 33 million who have sought aid in the two months since the coronavirus first forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces.
Another 2.98 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, adding to the 33 million who sought aid in the previous seven weeks
The waves of layoffs caused by the coronavirus pandemic continue with nearly 36.5 million Americans now thrown out of work in a US economy still paralyzed by business shutdowns
The number of first-time applications, however, has now declined for six straight weeks, suggesting that a dwindling number of companies are reducing their payrolls.
By historical standards, though, the latest tally shows that the number of weekly jobless claims remains enormous, reflecting an economy that is sinking into a severe downturn.
Jobless workers in some states are still reporting difficulty applying for or receiving benefits. These include freelance, gig and self-employed workers, who became newly eligible for jobless aid this year.
The latest jobless claims follow a devastating jobs report last week when the government said the unemployment rate soared to 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, and employers shed a stunning 20.5 million jobs
The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report released last week showed the unemployment rate spiked to 14.7 percent last month
Last week's pace of new applications for aid is still four times the record high that prevailed before the coronavirus struck hard in March.
The government said the unemployment rate soared to 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, and employers shed a stunning 20.5 million jobs.
Treasury secretary Steve Munich told Fox News that 'the reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better.'
'This is no fault of American business, this is no fault of American workers, this is a result of a virus,' he added.
At the same time, a new report found that homelessness in the US could rise by 45 per cent and affect 800,000 by the beginning of summer.
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