Included in House Democrats’ proposed fourth pandemic-response package, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, are a number of provisions related to the labor force. Perhaps most notable is the creation of a hazard-pay program, Pandemic Premium Pay, but the bill would also extend the federal supplement for unemployment insurance and fund additional job training, writes AAF’s Labor Market Policy Data Analyst Isabel Soto.

An excerpt:

The HEROES Act would also create a new program to increase wages of essential workers. The Act’s “Pandemic Premium Pay” would give essential workers an additional $13 and hour for work done from January 27, 2020, to 60 days after the end of the coronavirus public health emergency. The cost of a program like this is largely unknown, but previous AAF analysis estimated a cost of $672.8 billion if it were to be implemented through September 2020. The plan would exclude employees making over $200,000 a year from receiving the full additional income.

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