Bad News for Employees: IT Companies undertake Second Round of LAYOFF!- Report

A second wave of coronavirus layoffs have started taking place in many companies. Many employees who got fired in the first layoff, who have returned back to work are being fired again. Almost 31% of the workers who went back to work after being furloughed in the first COVID induced layoff have been laid off for the second time, as per the data published in a survey by Cornell University and the US Private Sector Job Quality Index released on Tuesday. 

26% of employees who are still on payrolls have received a warning from their employees that they might get laid off again. This figure roughly translates to 3 out of 4 workers being laid off. 

“That’s a remarkably high number of people who were reemployed by businesses that may not be able to afford to keep them on,” Daniel Alpert, Cornell Law School senior fellow and adjunct professor told Business Insider.

The survey was conducted between July 23 to August 1. The study highlighted that the second- wave layoffs are higher in the US despite cases being low. 

“What that is telling us is that this is not an issue of the virus expanding around the country. It’s not an issue of hotspots expanding. It’s an issue that is systemic and related to the CARES Act and PPP issue itself- the fact that it was limited to eight weeks of wages,” says Daniel. 

One of the key findings from the survey also indicate that 37% of Americans are being employed by third-party employers and are not self- employed. Almost 57% of them said that they have been put back on payroll after the pandemic broke out in March. However, out of this as many as 39% have been asked to return to work despite not being paid. 

“If the government doesn’t extend further aid to unemployed workers and businesses hit by the pandemic, it will deepen the severity and extend the duration of this crisis,” Alpert added.