At the beginning of November, a million Americans filed new unemployment claims within a single week. Over 20 million were already receiving benefits. While the unemployment rate came down to 6.9 percent in October, that figure elides those who’ve dropped out of the labor force altogether. Indeed, many job losses considered “temporary” in the spring have been reclassified as “permanent.” At the time of writing, 13 million Americans stood to lose unemployment benefits they’d been receiving through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs the day after Christmas. For many households, these emergency programs were their last remaining sources of income; their expiration is devastating. As an unemployed Tennessee restaurant manager told the New York Times, “Without it, I’m dead in the water.”

11月初，一百万美国人在一周内提出了新的失业要求。已经有超过2千万的人受益。尽管十月份的失业率降至6.9％，但这一数字使那些完全退出劳动力市场的人望而却步。实际上，许多在春季被视为“临时”的失业已被重新分类为“永久”。在撰写本文时，圣诞节后第二天就有1300万美国人失去了通过大流行性失业援助（PUA）和大流行性紧急失业补偿计划获得的失业救济。对于许多家庭来说，这些应急方案是他们最后剩余的收入来源；他们的到期是毁灭性的。田纳西州一位失业的餐厅经理告诉《纽约时报》：“如果没有，