This Is No Longer the Happiest Place on Earth

This is a real bummer: Walt Disney World, the largest single-site employer in the United States, will furlough 43,000 union employees, all thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

The New York Times reports that the furloughs will begin on April 19, and like the pandemic, have no end date, though Walt Disney World says they expect everyone will be able to come back when the theme park reopens. Union-represented employees will still get full and free health benefits for up to a year, and any employees who return after the furlough will retain their job titles and full wages. In the meantime, it looks like everyone will have to file for state unemployment.

This isn’t unexpected news, considering Walt Disney World has been shuttered for weeks now, but it is still unwelcome. The country is experiencing a rate of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression. Last week, the New York Times reported that more than 16 million people lost their jobs in March, and the longer the pandemic stretches on—and it’s expected to stretch on for some time—the more that number will go up. It’s also noteworthy that that number doesn’t account for people whose job losses are harder to count, like undocumented workers, contractors, and freelancers (hi!) who are losing gigs thanks to the trickle-down.

Disney is the largest employer in the state of Florida, with the resort itself employing (or, at least, previously employing) nearly 75,000 people. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney’s ready to furlough all those employees, union or non-union, save for about 200 deemed “essential workers.” As a result, Orlando’s unemployment rate will triple. In California, Deadline reports, Disneyland reached a similar agreement with the 10 unions representing its workers; it will furlough thousands of employees, but continue to pay for their health benefits.

And if you are wondering what is the happiest place on Earth, now that Walt Disney World and Disneyland have both fallen, it appears to be the tree directly outside my kitchen window, which is now in full bloom and newly home to several million thrilled and vocal birds, who are apparently unaware of the mass illness and joblessness afflicting the humans around them. Honestly, I’m happy for them.