The pandemic has forced society to examine how health and economic instability are linked, and there is hope that having difficult dialogues about social and economic inequality may become less difficult as a result. However, if the recent discussion in the United States over unemployment benefits and the labor market is any indicator, a long-term shift is less likely than a regression to old party talking points. Understanding the lives of the poor and how to build antipoverty policies has been a professional mission for Esther Duflo, a French-American economist and MIT professor who is the youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize in economic sciences — and only the second woman to do so. Gender inequality, unequal access to child care, mandates for return to in-person work, and vaccine access are among the many serious concerns concerning return to work in the United States and the global economic recovery, according to Duflo. However, when it comes to the discussion over whether statewide unemployment benefits are to blame for workers opting out of the labor market, Duflo says economists like herself aren’t content with an opinion that isn’t backed up by evidence. Benefits for the unemployed and a tight labor market A number of states discontinued their $300 weekly unemployment benefits earlier this month, ahead of the federal deadline of Sept. 6, and a few of them are even offering a $2,000 return-to-work bonus. State leaders eliminated benefits in the aim of alleviating corporate recruiting problems, but Duflo agrees with many economists that this is neither the source nor the solution for the country’s tight labor market. “This isn’t why individuals aren’t returning to work as rapidly as we believe they should,” Duflo added. She claims that this does not imply a larger financial buffer, and that government assistance has had no impact on how people plan and act. Duflo, on the other hand, made it obvious that soundbites about “lazy” Americans are incorrect. People may require additional time to find the suitable employment and, in many cases, relocate. And, in the weeks since states suspended payments, there has been no boost in workforce participation, and in some cases, it has harmed the economy by reducing household spending. Although more than ten million Americans are currently enrolled in pandemic-related programs, Duflo claims that unemployment benefits give people flexibility and “doesn’t make people lazy.” The latest initial jobless claims number increased on Thursday, while the number of continuing claims decreased, bringing insured unemployment to its lowest level since March 2020. Returning to work is more difficult for women. Child care costs are a greater burden on women than on men as they attempt to return to work. Many women are obliged to stay at home because their employment do not give flexible alternatives, do not pay enough to cover child care costs, or do not provide access to child care providers. These aren’t new issues, but the pandemic has pushed them to the fore again, with women bearing the brunt of employment losses in the United States, undoing decades of progress. “We recognized that the existing system isn’t very practical. It’s hardly functional. Women rely on their own boot straps to keep themselves afloat “According to Duflo. While the US federal government debates the meaning of infrastructure, Duflo claims that the US is falling behind on child care. Many Democrats are calling for funding that includes “human” infrastructure like child care and paid leave in new legislation. Child care is considered as a social effort in other developed nations, such as Europe, whereas the United States places primary responsibility for child care on moms, she added. On top of that, according to Duflo, there is a push in the United States for individuals to work unduly long hours, with women being pushed further behind male colleagues if they are unable to keep up due to the necessity to raise children. Covid has caused a reevaluation of the work-family balance, but it has not resolved the major challenges facing professional women. “This is a big impediment to women thriving in their careers,” Duflo said. Inequity in vaccine access stymies global progress. According to the World Bank, it was anticipated that closing the gender inequality gap between men and women would take 150 years before the pandemic. Lack of vaccine access outside of the United States will certainly delay the bridging of that gap, resulting in greater global economic difficulties. “It’s a shame that vaccine access is so unequal around the world,” Duflo remarked. When only a tiny fraction of people in impoverished nations are vaccinated, she claims, richer countries, such as Europe and the United States, stockpile vaccines. Due to their poor vaccination rates, Asian countries were among the first to be severely affected by Covid-19, and they may be among the last to be affected. “It makes no sense not to have some level of global sharing and respect,” Duflo added. “We need to fix this right away.” The International Monetary Fund estimated in May that $50 billion will be required to vaccinate 40% of the world’s population by the end of 2021. According to Duflo, $50 billion is a modest sum compared to the billions of dollars spent on federal stimulus measures. “It’s fantastic news that the United States has committed to providing 500 million immunizations, but the world’s population is seven billion people,” Duflo added. “We need to vaccinate four billion of them as quickly as possible.”/n
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