Biden proposes scaling up employment insurance amid coronavirus unemployment surge

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22M jobs lost in 4 weeks amid coronavirus pandemic

Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce weighs in on ‘Fox and Friends.’

With the jobless rate soaring due to a partial shutdown of the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a plan to transform unemployment insurance into what he calls "employment insurance."

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee proposes getting all 50 states to adopt and dramatically scale up short-time compensation programs – also known as work sharing -- in which businesses and companies in distress keep workers employed at reduced hours, with the federal government helping to make up the difference in workers’ wages.

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Biden’s announcement came soon after the Labor Department reported that 5.2 million people filed for unemployment claims last week, bringing the total over the past month to a staggering 22 million people -- more than 13 percent of the entire workforce.

“This dire economic dislocation stems from the need to protect public health through strong social distancing measures. But let’s not forget: these measures are required to the extent they are because we didn’t prepare early enough, and when the virus surfaced in our communities, we didn’t test sufficiently to contain it. This pain is a product of poor decision making by Donald Trump,” Biden said in a statement as he criticized the Republican incumbent president.

The former vice president said that workers laid off due to the coronavirus crisis should be “swiftly” compensated for their lost wages and benefits.

“But we should also be doing more — much more — to reduce the number of people who are laid off in the first place,” Biden stressed. “We should be committed to keeping as many people as possible attached to their employment, so they can easily return to work when appropriate, and maintain their income and benefits.”

Biden’s campaign touted that “the Obama-Biden administration championed this approach” and that 27 states have established short-time compensation programs. The campaign stressed that these programs need to become more flexible and attractive to both employers and employees so that as many workers as possible can remain attached to their jobs.

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In the short term, Biden’s proposing that small businesses that use this program must be able to get help to cover their workers' benefits as well as their other costs. He’s also calling for the federal government to temporarily waive the need for states to “experience rate” companies --which forces employers to pay higher taxes in the future if they use short-time compensation now.

Biden’s long-term plan calls for establishing 100 percent federal financing, securing participation from all 50 states and DC, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands., creating a tax credit for employers’ extra health care costs, raising caps on employer work reductions, launching a major awareness campaign to improve businesses participation rates, and building automatic triggers based on economic and public health concerns.