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Women at the heart of Biden's new economic aid

2021-01-14T23:08:00.706Z


Women, the main victims of the economic crisis in the United States, are at the heart of the new emergency stimulus plan of 1.900 billion dollars that the future president Joe Biden must present Thursday evening. Read also: Six economic challenges for the 46th President of the United States Overwhelmingly occupying jobs in the hotel, catering and tourism industries, sectors directly affected by


Women, the main victims of the economic crisis in the United States, are at the heart of the new emergency stimulus plan of 1.900 billion dollars that the future president Joe Biden must present Thursday evening.

Read also: Six economic challenges for the 46th President of the United States

Overwhelmingly occupying jobs in the hotel, catering and tourism industries, sectors directly affected by the restrictive measures to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, women are also those who most often take care of children at home while many schools and nurseries have been closed for almost a year.

Ahead of Joe Biden's press conference on Thursday evening, two senior officials unveiled the details of the plan, which includes direct checks to families of $ 1,400 based on income.

Read also: United States: Biden to unveil $ 1.9 trillion aid plan

These measures

"also include additional resources to keep the nurseries open in good security conditions, as well as to make the nurseries more affordable,"

one of these officials told reporters.

“This is one of the most important steps we can take right now to help keep children in safe work environments and help parents return to work, and in particular to address the problem. 'increasingly worrying negative impact of (the decrease in) the participation of women in the labor market,'

he added.

In December, 140,000 jobs were destroyed in the United States, occupied 100% by women, according to The National Women's Law Center, an organization fighting for gender equality.

According to his calculations, 156,000 jobs held by women were destroyed in the last month of 2020 against a gain of 16,000 jobs held by men, a balance of 140,000 job losses.

$ 15 billion

Limited access to child care during the pandemic prompted many women to quit their jobs.

Others have given up looking for a new job.

Many of them have simply disappeared from the unemployment figures.

In the $ 900 billion aid plan voted in December, $ 10 billion in funding was already allocated to child care.

This time, the Biden administration is proposing a $ 15 billion extension.

For months, economists have bemoaned the fact that women are paying the heaviest price in this crisis.

The Biden administration also wants to tackle the exorbitant costs of nurseries in the United States, while most public schools only admit children from the age of 5.

The future president will therefore call on Congress to

"extend tax credits for childcare expenses on the basis of one year"

.

Open schools

"Families will receive up to half of their child care expenses under 13 as a tax credit, so they can receive up to $ 4,000 for one child or $ 8,000 for two children or more, ”

according to the document detailing the $ 1.9 trillion plan.

Families will receive these sums so that families paying low taxes can still benefit.

Full reimbursement of 50% of child care costs will be possible for families earning less than $ 125,000 per year.

Those earning between $ 125,000 and $ 400,000 will receive partial credit.

The corollary of these measures is to provide financial assistance to schools to speed up their reopening.

Many establishments have not been able to put in place the sanitary measures required by the authorities to reopen their doors.

Teachers are also reluctant to return to work for lack of sufficient health guarantees.

Result: a myriad of primary schools, colleges, high schools and universities have been closed since March 16, 2020.

The new plan provides for 170 billion in aid to schools, including 130 billion dollars for a

“safe reopening”

.

"These funds can be used to reduce class sizes and change spaces so students and teachers can respect social distancing, improve ventilation, hire more people, provide personal protective equipment, make sure every school has access to a nurse, ”

explains the document.

This money could also be used for tutoring while the virtual school has worsened inequalities.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2021-01-14

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