3 ms·

$1200 stimmy check was not the big deal. Receiving $600/week in addition to unemployment for 24+ weeks was. Many hourly workers were making more money than wo

$1200 stimmy check was not the big deal. Receiving $600/week in addition to unemployment for 24+ weeks was. Many hourly workers were making more money than working when you combine $600/wk and unemployment at 30-60% of their regular paycheck. This dramatically stimulated the economy. And businesses. And then there are all the PPP funds that equates to 50-75% of a companies annual payroll. Also dramatically affected companies, and gave a false sense of security - preventing innovating into ‘the new normal.’

arcticbull 4y ago
I mean $600/week on top of unemployment ($40-450) is still poverty line wages for a family depending on where you live. [1] These people weren't exactly rushing out and buying Krug and caviar with their $40K/yr pre-tax wage. That's what some tech workers get every month. [1] https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references/2021-poverty-guidelines https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/povert...
- smelendez 4y ago
  No but a lot of people did end up saving and having more money to spend. As you say, basically $40k/person, which is more than a lot of people make (think especially of families with part time workers, like students or parents). And with reduced expenses for many: no commute, no other work-related expenses like clothes, often no childcare costs, less eating out and entertainment.
_uy6i 4y ago
And then potentially earning non-w2 money money on top of that (Uber, babysitting, etc)
- SV_BubbleTime 4y ago
  Uber is probably W9 Contractor or something, right? But yea, we had people work construction and dock work for cash.
SV_BubbleTime 4y ago
We lost about 70% of our tech staff to that. Do t get me wrong, we made it as convenient as possible to lay them off if they wanted it and kept them on… but lots of guys don’t want $20 an hour to work when they can make $24 an hour not working or keep working under the table somewhere. We got about 30% back. One guy in particular came back for about 4 hours before telling us where we can stick it and he was going back on unemployment, anyone of us would have said prior to his vacation he had a good work ethic and never once expressed issue with the job. As to PPP, we took a very small amount to help keep people on, and two competitors took millions and have now fired a lot of people and moved mfg over to China. So… yea, I don’t think these were the right moves.

arcticbull 4y ago

I mean $600/week on top of unemployment ($40-450) is still poverty line wages for a family depending on where you live. [1] These people weren't exactly rushing out and buying Krug and caviar with their $40K/yr pre-tax wage. That's what some tech workers get every month. [1] https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references/2021-poverty-guidelines https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/povert...

smelendez 4y ago
No but a lot of people did end up saving and having more money to spend. As you say, basically $40k/person, which is more than a lot of people make (think especially of families with part time workers, like students or parents). And with reduced expenses for many: no commute, no other work-related expenses like clothes, often no childcare costs, less eating out and entertainment.

_uy6i 4y ago

And then potentially earning non-w2 money money on top of that (Uber, babysitting, etc)

SV_BubbleTime 4y ago
Uber is probably W9 Contractor or something, right? But yea, we had people work construction and dock work for cash.

SV_BubbleTime 4y ago

We lost about 70% of our tech staff to that. Do t get me wrong, we made it as convenient as possible to lay them off if they wanted it and kept them on… but lots of guys don’t want $20 an hour to work when they can make $24 an hour not working or keep working under the table somewhere. We got about 30% back. One guy in particular came back for about 4 hours before telling us where we can stick it and he was going back on unemployment, anyone of us would have said prior to his vacation he had a good work ethic and never once expressed issue with the job. As to PPP, we took a very small amount to help keep people on, and two competitors took millions and have now fired a lot of people and moved mfg over to China. So… yea, I don’t think these were the right moves.