New RIWI data show that U.S. workers are experiencing a second round of layoffs in July/August not showing up in mainstream data.
A new study in partnership with the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index and Cornell Law School Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor, Daniel Alpert, shows that a substantial portion of the reported job growth in the May-July official jobs data reflected workers put back on payroll as a requirement of the U.S. Government’s Paycheck Protection Program. The data show that many of those put back on payroll are now being laid off as those funds run out. Of those put back on payroll that are still being paid, many are at high risk of being laid off a second time because they are not actually working, or their employer has told them they may be laid off again.
The RIWI dataset shows the re-layoff problem is worse in non-COVID surge states. This suggests the re-layoffs reflect overall economic conditions rather than the resurgence of COVID and implies a much deeper recession than the mainstream jobs data indicate.
6,000+ randomly engaged Americans shared their payroll and layoff status from July 23-Aug 1, using RIWI technology that engages randomly from the broadest possible swath of the American population on a continuous 24/7, real-time basis.
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