A Great Depression Prescription for a Pandemic Era

By New York State Senator Rachel May, Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge, New York Assembly member Patricia Fahy, and Representative Danillo Sena  

The caller’s name was William, from Syracuse, NY, and he was reaching out to us for help with his unemployment claim. He was clearly uncomfortable. “I’ve had a job since I was 16 years old, and that was more than 20 years ago,” he said, sounding almost apologetic. “This is the first time in my life I haven’t worked, and I really don’t know what to do.” … Another caller, Evonne, from Framingham, MA, is a single parent with three kids under the age of 4. She lost her job in May when the pandemic forced her workplace to close. The bills are mounting fast, and she worries about deferred rent payments coming due down the road. She wants to get back to work, but it’s unlikely her employer will survive the pandemic. 

These are the kind of stories that have poured into our offices almost daily since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country last spring and closed much of our economy. The coronavirus has taken an incalculable toll on daily life since then, and it has driven national unemployment rates to levels not seen since the Great Depression—almost 15 percent at its highest point in April. State numbers have been even higher, with New York State’s jobless rate peaking in July at 16 percent and Massachusetts' rate peaking in June at 17.7 percent.

And like that bleak era of the 1930s, which conjures images of bread lines, soup kitchens, and devastating homelessness, this crisis calls for bold action to help millions of displaced workers regain their footing. It calls for a pandemic-era version of President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) program—the groundbreaking New Deal initiative that, over its lifetime, put 8.5 million people to work on public infrastructure, parks and arts projects that continue to enhance our communities and lives today. 

The WPA was a creative, visionary strategy that worked for the country at a time of unprecedented need. And it could work again. We are proud that New York and Massachusetts are leading the way with bills introduced in both legislatures (MA; NY) to create a short-term public works jobs program. The respective WPA-style programs will help stem lingering economic damage from the public health crisis while providing employment opportunities to young people in some of the most relevant fields of the day. The need is clear: As of mid-August, more than 29 million Americans were collecting some type of unemployment insurance. By mid-September, new unemployment claims were still topping 800,000 per week.

While some of the particulars may vary, our states’ distinct efforts share a common overarching vision: to put people back to work in a way that supports critical and emerging areas of public need, including pandemic contact tracing, sustainable energy initiatives, water quality, transportation, agriculture, infrastructure, and projects to enhance the creative economy.

We believe such a program is especially vital for young people. As with every economic downturn, this demographic has been hardest hit by pandemic-driven job loss, and this same group typically has the most difficult time regaining their footing after losing a job. Nationwide, nearly a third of those age 35 and under have lost a job in the pandemic. In New York City alone, between 27 percent and 34 percent of those ages 18-24 are out of school and out of work. Young people of color and those without advanced education are particularly hard hit. 

Losing a job has consequences beyond the immediate financial hardship and pain. It can alter a young person’s work trajectory and earnings potential for decades. A WPA program would give these young people the opportunity to continue honing their skills in areas of potential job growth. It would provide income for them to reinject into the economy. It would feed their self-worth, reinforce habits of productivity, and maintain their connection to the labor market, better preserving their long-term earnings potential. 

At the same time, these programs can generate broader public benefits for generations to come. We need only consider the public parks that flourished from the New Deal-era WPA and, more recently, entertained legions of us through this long pandemic summer—a true testimony to the enduring value of bold action and creative thinking.

We invite other state leaders to join us in our push for reconstituted WPA- style programs designed to meet the needs of this pandemic crisis and the urgent challenges facing our 21st century communities. Given the unrelenting pace of unemployment now six months into the pandemic, the fact that as much as 42 percent of lost jobs may be gone for good, and the likelihood that a full economic recovery is still years away, we must act boldly. We did it before, and we can do it again.


Senator Rachel May (@RachelMayNY) represents New York State’s 53rd Senate District.

Senator Jamie Eldridge (@JamieEldridgeMA) represents the Massachusetts State Senate's Middlesex and Worcester District. 

Assembly member Patricia Fahy (@PatriciaFahy109) represents the New York State Assembly's 109th District.

Representative Danillo Sena (@dansena_ma) represents the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 37th Middlesex District.