Opinion | American workers are more vulnerable than ever to crises like the novel coronavirus. By DanielAlpert.
How did we get here in America and why is our labor force loaded with all these especially vulnerable workers? In 1990 5.8 million people in the US were employed in eating and drinking establishments. Today 10.8 million people hold those jobs, which account for over 10% of all production and non-supervisory workers in the United States.
And there is no downturn to compare what the effects of this coronavirus-driven shock could look like - restaurant and bar jobs passed manufacturing jobs during the Great Recession. And we have never had as many low-wage/low-hour jobs as a percentage of the total. We've never had a workforce this vulnerable.
This will require far more than a payroll tax cut or the enhancement of unemployment benefits. For one thing a tax cut won't help someone who isn't working isn't paying taxes – payroll or otherwise. And – after living hand-to-mouth since the Great Recession, many workers simply cannot get by on the pittance they would receive from unemployment insurance, even with food aid .
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