Mass Airline Layoffs in Swing States Would Further Imperil Trump
As federal relief runs out, airlines are preparing to cut thousands of jobs in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and other election battlegrounds.
In last week’s issue, I wrote about President Donald Trump’s puzzling reluctance to push a big stimulus package that would jolt the economy just before voters head to the polls in November to decide his fate. Instead, the president has mostly stood by as coronavirus relief measures run out and Congress stalemates on further aid to businesses and workers. One cost of this inaction will soon become clear: If the government’s payroll support program for airlines is allowed to expire as scheduled on Wednesday, the airlines say they’ll cut tens of thousands of jobs—many concentrated in battleground states including North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
The danger of mass job loss in the airline industry has been apparent since the virus first emerged. Few people are eager to travel in enclosed steel tubes and risk becoming sick, or worse, so U.S. air travel has plummeted. A $25 billion relief package under the CARES Act mitigated the employment effects by forbidding airlines from involuntarily furloughing workers before Oct. 1. For months, airlines and workers’ unions have been imploring Congress and the president to extend that payroll aid, without any success.