This weekend, temporary pay bumps for workers during the coronavirus pandemic are ending at companies across the country.

In a normal world, high hazard pay might be the only way to stop employees from quitting en masse.

But with tens of millions unemployed, workers quickly lost a lot of leverage.

This weekend, temporary pay bumps for workers during the coronavirus pandemic are ending at companies across the country.

In a normal world, high hazard pay might be the only way to stop employees from quitting en masse.

But with tens of millions unemployed, workers quickly lost a lot of leverage.

These were the many names for temporary pay bumps that some stores, warehouses and factories gave to workers who risked their health to continue to show up on the job during the pandemic.

"It feels like Starbucks could've been paying me this the whole time, and they're just choosing to do it now to help me feel better, but it's not really paying what I need," says Conde, who's part of a worker advocacy group Fight for $15, which argues, alongside other labor activists, that temporary pandemic raises should be permanent.

This weekend, such temporary pay bumps are ending at companies including Amazon and Molson Coors.

In a normal world, high hazard pay might be the only way to stop employees from quitting en masse.

But with tens of millions unemployed, workers quickly lost a lot of leverage.

But a purely economic analysis of coronavirus risks that frontline workers face suggests that hazard pay bumps should be 10 times bigger than a few dollars an hour, closer to $10 or $20 more an hour, according to calculations by Columbia University economist Suresh Naidu.

Grocery cashier Katharine Thomas wishes the federal government helped essential workers as much as it's helping the unemployed with relief of $600 a week.

"Even with hazard pay, I still don't make that much money," she says.

Grocery cashier Katharine Thomas wishes the federal government helped essential workers as much as it's helping the unemployed with relief of $600 a week.

"Even with hazard pay, I still don't make that much money," she says.

Even with hazard pay, I still don't make that much money."

This month, the House of Representatives included $200 billion in pandemic hazard pay for essential workers in a latest coronavirus relief bill