“The vice president believes it’s not the time to just build it back the way things were before ... it’s time to imagine and build a new American economy for the next generation.”
In Philadelphia, leaders in the tourism sector are keeping the human toll at the forefront, investing in programs to support the thousands of hospitality industry workers who are now out of work.
“My boss told us if we needed to find other jobs we could do it, but I need to keep my job where I'm kind of furloughed because I also still have both my sons on my health insurance. So I had to try to balance it all out."
Like others around the country, the state’s unemployment office was wholly unprepared for the pandemic, operating with a staff thinned by budget cuts and capable of handling only a relatively small number of claims.
Roughly 22 million filed for unemployment benefits in the past month — easily the worst U.S. job losses. But only 12 million people are getting the checks.
