Poverty in Adams: Post (or Trans-) Corona
“… laid bare how many people are right on the brink of poverty – or insecurity – with one missed paycheck.” Julian Castro, April 11, 2020
In March 2020, the existential threat of the corona virus entered the public consciousness and the term “social distancing” came into vogue. At first the impacts – for some people, at least – seemed modest enough: a meeting or speaking engagement canceled, perhaps, or empty shelves at the grocery store.
But soon enough, “non-essential businesses” were suspended and the majority of the population was ordered to hunker down at home. Even this step, for retired people and many white collar workers, was an inconvenience: work at home continued, perhaps interspersed with some home-schooling for the children. No family get-togethers and dinner out, but zoom and carry out kept even these amenities close at hand. For many, concern about supplies of toilet paper and hand sanitizer ranked high on the list of concerns.
But for many other Adams County residents, the immediate consequences were more significant:
Shopkeepers looking for a comeback after several down years instead were forced to shutter their doors.
Hotels and other “nonessential” businesses closed their doors and in many cases laid off their staffs.
Restaurants, limited to carry-out service, were serving only a tiny fraction of their former customers.
Laid off workers found themselves financially vulnerable, with long waits to apply for unemployment and bills looming.
Emergency room and other medical personnel were exposed to levels of personal stress and physical danger more typically expected of soldiers in a war zone.
· Some workers (grocery workers, postal workers, etc.) who would not have considered themselves “first responders” suddenly learned that they were essential and working in a hazard zone.
The Corona virus has exposed a deep and persistent inequality in our society. Those currently living in poverty or others with minimum wage jobs are most likely:
To have lost their jobs
Not to have health insurance
To have lost health insurance
To be food insecure
To be housing burdened
To be vulnerable to eviction or foreclosure.
This category is also least likely to have space to do social distancing. Children are most likely to be negatively affected by school shutdown. Finally this demographic is least likely to have an Internet connection, further isolating them from school, family, and online shopping.
Another category, frontline “essential” workers (Wal mart, grocery, trash, post office …) are most exposed to harm, generally unable to maintain social distancing, and among the most unlikely to have paid sick leave or family leave.
Before the crisis, unemployment in Adams County was relatively low (3.9% in January 2020)[1], but even then many in the local workforce were limited to minimum wage seasonal work and others had low wage retail or agricultural jobs.
In the first week of major layoffs, Pennsylvania led the nation in the number of new unemployment claims filed, with a total of 378,908, 25 times the week before.[2] By the end of five weeks, the total exceeded 1.5 million.[3]
Local unemployment numbers showed the same trend. At the start of the crisis, 599 Adams County people (1% of the labor force) were receiving state unemployment compensation. Within three weeks, that number had grown by at least a factor of 10.[4]
The society we live in developed bit by bit. We have a dysfunctional, employer-controlled health care system as a result of World War II wage-price controls. Many workers lack medical leave or sick leave because of laissez faire attitudes toward business dating back to the 1880s and newly in vogue. Some places of work are becoming 21st century imitations of the plants described 150 years ago by Upton Sinclair in “The Jungle” (and prime incubators of the virus) because of the recent fetish to repeal even the century old worker and food safety reforms of the progressive era. Prisoners who are overwhelmingly derived from the lower economic strata are confined in close quarters that are a prime risk of infection. Unemployment insurance is a patchwork of antiquated and inadequately funded systems because the system is left to states, some of whom took measures to restrict benefits and make it difficult to apply.
The grotesque levels of income inequality came about as a result of many actions, including 40 years of supply side tax cuts, the “greed is good” mentality launched under President Reagan, and the half century assault on unions. The Great Society-era “social safety net” has been shredded due to decades of “government is always the problem” and “47% who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, …” propaganda from the GOP and its billionaire allies.
Even during the pandemic, that campaign to destroy the reforms of every president since the Progressive era has gained momentum:
Even though millions have lost their jobs, SNAP work requirements were not eliminated
Efforts to declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional have continued
The long GOP war to eliminate the postal service has accelerated
The pandemic is being used as an excuse to eliminate environmental regulations, auto mileage standards, and abortion rights.
That system will still exist when the all clear order is sounded and people come out from their houses, blinking and staring at the sky like survivors of a nuclear war or natural disaster movie. And almost immediately, a political war will start (in some senses, the “liberate …” rallies mark the beginning) to determine what sort of country are we going to be.
Next: Part II: The coming budget and priorities fights
[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate-in-adams-county-pa-percent-m-nsa-fed-data.html (Accessed April 1, 2020)
[2] David Shribman, “Pennsylvania Hit By More Jobless Claims Than Any Other State,” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2020.
[3] “Unemployment Compensation Claim Statistics and COVID-19,” Pennsylvania Office of Unemployment Compensation, https://www.uc.pa.gov/COVID-19/Pages/UC-Claim-Statistics.aspx (Accessed April 24, 2020).
[4] “Compensation Activity, Initial and Continued Claims by Workforce Development Area,” Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, State of Pennsylvania https://www.workstats.dli.pa.gov/Products/UCActivity/Pages/default.aspx