“This is an essential workforce that’s being asked to do more and more,” said Enrique Lopezlira, director of the UC Berkeley Center’s Low-Wage Work Program. “Yet the pay, training and other labor standards of the job have not kept up.”
An analysis published June 23 by the UC Berkeley Labor Center said that the work requirement would cause the most people to lose insurance and “poses an especially draconian barrier to older adults.”
“If you make it to age 60 to 65, you can still expect to live a pretty long time,” said Nari Rhee, director of the Retirement Security Program at UC Berkeley Labor Center. “And I would say it’s a particular issue for women, because women can expect to live longer, but they’ve had lower earnings, they’ve had patchier careers because of caregiving, both for children and often for elders.”
Retirement is the final chapter of the American dream. But that dream of the “golden years” is quickly turning into a fairy tale for a growing number of people. More than a third of Americans today feel unprepared or unsure if they are on track for retirement, according to a new study. But, on the other hand, some experts say American seniors are better off than their counterparts in other countries. Is America really facing a retirement crisis, and if so can it be solved?
“If you’re retired and on a fixed income, inflation really, really hurts,” said Rhee. “We’ve come out of decades of historically low-interest inflation to all of a sudden pretty substantial inflation, especially in things that matter to people, which is food and fuel.”
You may be able to stay on COBRA if you can afford the premiums, although keep in mind that there’s usually an 18-month limit to this option, said Laurel Lucia, director of the health-care program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
You may be able to stay on COBRA if you can afford the premiums, although keep in mind that there’s usually an 18-month limit to this option, said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
Enrique Lopezlira, the director of the low-wage work program at the University of California Berkeley Labor Center, said that while some hourly workers have enjoyed the new incentives, others remain boxed out because of health concerns and other pandemic-related challenges, such as a lack of child care.
Enrique Lopezlira, the director of the low-wage work program at the University of California Berkeley Labor Center, said that the lack of access to child care and safety concerns are keeping many workers out of the labor force, particularly women.
If you don’t have another job lined up that will provide health insurance, you may be eligible for Medicaid or a subsidized plan on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. Medicaid typically involves no or low monthly premiums, Lucia said. And marketplace plans are the cheapest they’ve ever been for many people, thanks to relief legislation passed in the pandemic.
About one-third of bank tellers were on some form of public assistance, from Medicaid to food stamps, according to a 2013 report from The Committee for Better Banks.
Jessie Hammerling, lead researcher for the Technology and Work Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said it is wise to be cautious with assumptions about automation.
Still, the subsidies may be coming late in the game for many people, said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education. “Some workers who lost job-based coverage earlier in the pandemic and already enrolled in Medicaid or marketplace coverage may prefer to stay in that coverage to avoid further coverage transitions,” Lucia said.
