Daily Dime

The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, expected to land on President Trump’s desk on Friday, is an unprecedented response to a crisis without parallel. It includes  a massive expansion of benefits to the recently unemployed, cash payments to most American families and an array of new spending designed to help businesses.… Read more...

The coronavirus has hit Louisiana’s workforce particularly hard: 72,620 people filed for unemployment benefits with the state last week, an increase of more than 70,000 over the week before. But in a state with the stingiest unemployment insurance in the country, benefits from the state alone won’t come close to meeting workers’ needs.… Read more...

Cash-strapped state governments will receive $150 billion in emergency aid as part of the massive $2 trillion economic rescue package that appears on its way to passage after Senate leaders and the White House reached an early-morning agreement. The New York Times’ Emily Cochrane and Nicholas Fandos report that the bill includes a significant expansion of unemployment benefits that will allow many workers laid off because of the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain their full salaries.  … Read more...

Louisiana is woefully unprepared for the imminent pandemic-induced recession, and there is reason to believe the economic damage will be worse here than in other states. LBP’s executive director, Jan Moller, in a guest column for the Advocate, explains why many Louisiana workers are so vulnerable to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and why the state should move quickly to address the holes in its public safety net: 

To be sure, even the best-prepared states are poorly equipped to deal with a sudden economic downturn.