By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
New poll shows voters support government-backed payroll to guarantee workers wages through coronavirus crisis
Voters support Rep. Jayapal’s European-style proposal to keep workers on payroll, directly pay for workers’ wages and cover basic business expenses such as rent
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A newly released poll conducted by Data For Progress found broad, bipartisan support for a government-backed program to guarantee paychecks, allowing workers to keep their jobs and return to work when the economy can eventually “reopen.”
Mobilizing National Resources To Directly Pay For Workers’ Wages
Countries like the United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, and others have all taken similar measures to mobilize national resources to directly pay for workers’ wages and business expenses. As layoffs continue to mount in America, Rep. Pramila Jayapal is proposing a paycheck guarantee, modeled after the payroll grants in the CARES Act that kept aviation workers paid and connected to their healthcare.
“Without policies ambitious enough to meet the scale of this crisis, unemployment will continue to rise and workers will continue to suffer,” said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats. “We need to be able to ensure that everyone has the resources and access to care they need to survive this pandemic and the subsequent recession.”
This proposal sends direct payments from the government to businesses in order to cover payroll expenses and keep workers employed throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Voters support the proposal by a 70-percentage-point margin (81 percent support, 11 percent oppose). When it comes to partisan attitudes, both Democrats and Republicans support the proposal by a 73-point margin.
Incentivizing Businesses To Rehire Previously Laid Off Workers
By a 71-point margin, voters also support a tax credit program that would incentivize businesses to rehire workers who were laid off or whose hours were reduced. There is particularly strong support among Latinos for this proposal, backing it by an 82-point margin (89 percent support, 7 percent oppose).
The polling also finds bipartisan enthusiasm for the government providing direct payments to businesses to cover expenses such as commercial rent payments if the business lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats support the proposal by a 61-point margin (76 percent support, 15 percent oppose), while Republicans back it by a 68-point margin (80 percent support, 12 percent oppose) and Independents back by a 41-point margin (59 percent support, 18 percent oppose).
The post Voters support proposal to directly pay for workers’ wages appeared first on ValueWalk.
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