Our failed safety nets
An additional 2.98 million people filed for unemployment in the beginning of May, bringing the total lost jobs to at least 36 million by official tallies, and likely significantly more once discouraged and gig workers are factored in. Until this March, the most unemployment claims ever filed in one week was fewer than 700,000.
The primary reason for this massive surge in unemployment is of course the pandemic and the economic shutdowns to contain it. But government policy is also to blame.
The virus has exposed the
