Jobs Report Shows Double Digit Unemployment, Millions Still Need Assistance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 7, 2020

 Jobs Report Shows Double Digit Unemployment, Millions Still Need Assistance

Tillis and Burr Must Reject Senate GOP’s Partisan Games, Demand Full Extension of $600 Unemployment Payments

Raleigh, N.C. - Today, a new national jobs report shows the U.S. economy remains down more than 13 million jobs with the national unemployment rate at 10.2%, higher than its peak during the 2009 Great Recession. Analysts continue to say that the persistence of coronavirus cases and poor national management of the pandemic threaten any economic recovery.

“The latest economic data shows that our economy is struggling and millions of Americans still need help,” said Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson. “After two weeks of inaction by Senate Republicans, it’s time for Senator Tillis and Senator Burr to break with their leadership’s partisan games and demand a full extension of $600 unemployment payments to help North Carolinians navigate this ongoing crisis. The health and economic welfare of hundreds of thousands of North Carolina families are depending on it.”

Two weeks ago, Senate Republicans’ stimulus proposal rapidly collapsed in the face of broad internal and external opposition, ending $600 weekly federal unemployment payments. As part of their proposal, the Senate GOP tried to slash federal unemployment payments by $400 per week. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, an aid package that would extend unemployment payments through the end of the year. 

Without $600 federal unemployment payments, average weekly payments in North Carolina dropped from $877 to just $277. Governor Roy Cooper has urged Congress to extend unemployment payments, which North Carolinians have referred to as “lifeline” and how they “sleep at night now.”

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