A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week would provide up to $250 in weekly unemployment benefits to gig workers.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, introduced the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act. The 106-page bill seeks to overhaul current unemployment insurance benefits, allowing them to fluctuate in amount and length during times of high employment, among other changes. It would also codify jobless benefits to workers who quit for certain reasons, such as the loss of child care.
“Our unemployment insurance system is broken, and it’s been broken for decades. As we’ve seen the last year, it’s much harder for the unemployment system to work in a crisis when it’s been neglected and sabotaged,” Wyden said in a statement. “We can’t fail again to fix it in the wake of the second major economic crisis in 10 years.”
Congress moved quickly to support unemployed workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, even allowing so-called gig workers and the self-employed to qualify for benefits for the first time. The Wyden-Bennet bill would seek to make some of those changes permanent.
Recent Comments