I am grateful to Abigail Wozniak of the Opportunity and Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis who shared this credible resource – ECONOFACT where noted researchers including herself share policy ideas and credible facts.

In the latest article by Patricia M. Anderson and Phillip Levine they make the case that many essential workers who are on the front lines of the COVID crisis may actually earn less than if they went on unemployment. They make the case that if there are around 1.2 million of these low income essential workers and if each were given a 30 percent subsidy, the cost of the program would be less than what we would pay out in unemployment insurance and at the same time compensate them for this hard work. They estimate the bill would come to around $1 billion a month. I would add some hazard pay to this amount too.