Stories on new site show extent of economic crisis revealed by unemployment figures

Socially distanced state unemployment line would stretch all the way from Olympia past San Francisco

— from Sage Wilson for Working Washington —

TODAY we are releasing a new website — ThisIsACrisis.com — where Washington workers are sharing powerful stores about how the coronavirus crisis is affecting their incomes, their health, their lives, and their sense of basic economic security. The site is live TODAY and stories published at thisisacrisis.com are freely available for use. Contact sage@workingwa.org for more info or to connect with a worker whose story is on the site.

These stories give human context to the new unemployment figures announced today which show the startling impact of the coronavirus crisis on our economy. 605,514 people have already filed unemployment claims in our state, and 352,909 people are currently receiving benefits.

To provide a sense of scale:

• A socially distanced unemployment line starting at the Olympia headquarters of the Employment Security Department would stretch past San Francisco all the way to San Jose. (Source: 6 feet x 605,514 workers filing claims = 688 miles; there are 670 miles from Olympia to San Jose.)
• The at least 252,605 people who applied for unemployment but whose benefits the state has not yet approved lost out on a combined $151 million in federal support this week. (Source: 605,514 people who have filed, minus 352,909 people currently receiving benefits, all of who could be getting $600/week in additional federal support.)

The stay-at-home orders issued to slow the spread of coronavirus have laid bare stark inequities in our economy. Many people are safely working from home, maintaining their incomes and protecting their health. Meanwhile, others continue to go to work in “essential” jobs like food, healthcare, and delivery work — even though many of these jobs lack essential protections like sick day, safety supplies, and hazard pay. 

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of others have lost their jobs, including huge numbers of restaurant, retail, and other service sector workers. And our state’s unemployment system is utterly failing to meet the need.

The spread of coronavirus has become an economic catastrophe. The federal government has failed to do enough, so state and local government need to step up to provide support and relief which is immediate, impactful, and inclusive.

More online at ThisIsACrisis.com

Working Washington is the voice for workers in our state. Working Washington fast food strikers sparked the fight that won Seattle’s first-in-the-nation $15 minimum wage. Working Washington baristas and fast food workers led the successful campaign for secure scheduling in Seattle, and our members across the state helped drive forward Initiative 1433 to raise the minimum wage and provide paid sick days. We successfully drove Amazon to sever ties with the right-wing lobby group ALEC and improve conditions in their sweatshop warehouses, and got Starbucks to address inequities in their corporate parental leave policy. And we’ve continued to make history by organizing for the landmark statewide paid family leave law in 2017, winning the groundbreaking Seattle Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in summer 2018, and leading the fight last year to restore overtime protections to salaried workers. For more information, including our press kit, visit workingWA.org.