SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The economic rescue package passed last month gives financial support to almost all Americans affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. But it leaves out many young adults like me, even though we are among the most vulnerable to the economic effects of this shutdown. Parents of children aged 16 and under receive $500 per child, and most adults will receive a $1,200 tax rebate. But parents don’t get any money for dependents aged 17 and older, even if they live at home. And anyone claimed as a dependent cannot receive the $1,200 meant for adults. This excludes 21 million Americans.
Of course, a 17-year-old needs to eat just as much as a 15-year-old does, and at a time when nonessential employees are being told to stay home, most teenagers shouldn’t be working. But it’s also a problem that adult dependents receive no aid. Full-time students whose parents help pay for college are ineligible for aid, even though many student dependents work to support themselves and pay rent. The rules also leave out disabled or elderly adults claimed as dependents.
Either adults claimed as dependents should get the same check everyone else does in recognition that they still have financial obligations, or caretakers should get the $500 per dependent to cover the additional cost of supporting someone during a pandemic.
The unemployment insurance (UI) changes, impressive in some ways, also leave out many young adults. People just entering the workforce are not able to get aid unless they had a job offer by early March, many months before graduation, and most adult students working part-time don’t make enough money to qualify.
Soon, millions of high school, community college, and college students will graduate and be unemployed. Students graduating into a market with no jobs will get none of the aid that former full-time employees get, even though both are unemployed through no fault of their own. These restrictions will hit working class young people planning to start technical or service jobs the hardest.
While a wealthy graduate going into finance might have a job offer already or be able to work from home, someone graduating from welding school with plans to work in a shop will be prevented from getting UI, and technical skills are harder to get online than many of the things taught in liberal arts or business programs. The lack of aid will also be harder on black and Latino graduates, who tend to have more debt to start with.
In fact, young adults who would ordinarily be entering the workforce are one of the groups most vulnerable to the economic effects of the pandemic, especially if they come from a low-income community. Research from the 2008 financial crash and earlier recessions finds that people who begin their careers during a recession have lower incomes for the rest of their lives, even if they do find jobs. Unemployment hurts earnings more for new labor-market entrants, while people who have been working for some time have smaller losses in lifetime earnings.
The first rounds of stimulus in response to COVID-19 represent a remarkable bipartisan effort to tackle an unprecedented crisis. But as lockdowns continue, it’s becoming clear that more is needed. In order to protect others, young adults, who are at the lowest risk from the virus, are taking the greatest financial hit from the mandatory shutdown.
Congress should include young adults in any financial assistance and expand unemployment insurance to people who want to start working, but can’t. And when the quarantine ends, Congress should take aggressive action to provide jobs and help as young people enter one of the worst job markets in history. Young people like me want to contribute to the economy – Congress should give us that chance.
Max Cassell graduated from Shaker Heights High School and is a senior at Cornell University.
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April 24, 2020 at 04:33PM
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CARES Act excludes young adults even though we also have been harmed by the coronavirus crisis: Max Cassell - cleveland.com
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