More than seven million people in the United States will lose their unemployment benefits as of Monday as pandemic safety nets expire.
Federal unemployment emergency benefits will end on Labor Day, while another three million people will lose their additional $ 300 boost to state unemployment benefits, with a ban on government intervention.
The White House has said there are no plans to further expand federal unemployment benefits, The Associated Press reported.
Jared Bernstein
Jared Bernstein’s job openings reached 10.1 million in the third month in a row. Ponzi deficit schemes are met with cold fusion. Economic growth increased to 6.5% annually in the second quarter MORE, who is part of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told the AP: “Twenty-two trillion-dollar savings work largely with momentum and we have a strong momentum in the direction correct in the name of the American workforce. “
The September 6 benefit cliff was part of an agreement reached in March to expand federal unemployment aid from the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. At the time, the economy seemed poised to make a huge rebound as COVID-19 vaccines became more available and summer activities seemed to pick up.
However, unobtrusive job reports throughout the summer shattered those hopes. An August job report released last week noted a slowdown in hiring, indicating a tougher labor market around September.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 7-day average for new cases of COVID-19 currently stands at more than 150,000, levels that closely resemble those seen in January.
In the White House, there is a higher level of anxiety around the end of unemployment benefits, according to the Washington Post, as some of the Biden administration are concerned that this abrupt end to aid could push to many in poverty.
Many Republican lawmakers in states like Oklahoma and Georgia decided to end unemployment benefits in their respective states, arguing that the benefits were a disincentive for people to join the workforce.
However, as The Post noted, a study published in August found that only one in eight workers who lose their unemployment benefits ends up finding work.
Since March 2020, about $ 680 billion in emergency unemployment assistance has been distributed, the Post reported.
“Letting these benefits expire in the current circumstances and the current uncertainty we are experiencing is tantamount to forcing people to fall through the cracks,” Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at Groundwork Collaborative nonprofit Progressive Research, told The Hill last week. “It’s not just letting people fall through the cracks.”