JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s broken unemployment system gained national attention by a comedian and political commentator, but it was no laughing matter.
HBO’s John Oliver took a deep dive into the nation’s unemployment crisis on his show, Last Week Tonight.
“It’s been almost exactly a year since the pandemic hit and tens of millions of people lost their jobs,” Oliver said. “Many of whom, files for ‘unemployment insurance’—or, ‘unemployment.’”
A keyword Oliver emphasized, “insurance.”
Oliver broke down why the system was created in the 1930s.
“The basic idea was, like for most insurances, to gather funds in the good times, so there may be money available to disburse in the bad times,” Oliver said.
Unemployment insurance used to be the pride of a prepared nation that nowadays is sometimes disparaged .
Oliver called out former governor and current US senator Rick Scott with a clip of him boasting about reducing the state’s unemployment rolls.
“How many people when I left office were on unemployment benefits?” Scott asked at a conference. “Sixty-one thousand.”
After those changes, only 11% of applicants were actually eligible for benefits during the pandemic before the federal government stepped in with the CARES Act.
“Florida’s deep and deliberate neglect of its unemployment system caused people there real pain,” Oliver said.
This is something Oliver said hurt the state in the long run.
“Every dollar spent on unemployment benefits boosted economy-wide spending by as much as two dollars,” Oliver said. “So it’s a vital social safety net and has massive macroeconomic benefits.”
Which is why Oliver said unemployment insurance should again be regarded as “insurance,” and not a handout.
“We need to take all of the energy that we have been pouring to make sure those who don’t deserve payments don’t get them, and put at least as much energy into making sure the people who really need them, do,” Oliver concluded.