Congress Is Hanging Single Parents Out to Dry

New York Magazine recently highlighted our explainer, Working Families Cannot Meet Basic Needs Under Existing Unemployment Insurance Benefits, in their article titled, “Congress Is Hanging Single Parents Out to Dry.”

State unemployment benefits are relatively low: Previous research from the Economic Policy Institute puts the average state payment at $320 per week. In areas with a higher cost of living, that payment frequently fails to cover a family’s actual needs. According to the new data, a single parent with one child who receives unemployment in Nassau County, Florida, falls “$3,936 short of what they need to pay for basic monthly expenses,” including rent, groceries, and child-care needs. (Estimates are based on EPI’s family-budget calculator, and the precise shortfall varies from locality to locality.)

Read the entire New York Magazine article here.