There Are 13 States Across The Us That Have Now Approved An Extra $300 A Week In Unemployment Benefits That Had Expired On 31 July
The weekly $600 in unemployment benefits expired on 31 July and since then millions of Americans have been wondering if there would be either an extension or additional help amid the coronavirus pandemic. Congress failed to reach an agreement about a fifth stimulus relief package causing further delay, potentially until after Labor Day weekend.
While we await a definitive package, 13 states have officially given approval to give an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits. Kentucky was the most recent to approve this weekly payment and they will distribute $44 billion in total funding according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Which States Will Offer The Extra $300 Unemployment Payments
States are continually applying for payment assistance. Below is a look at the current status for each state.
Alabama: The state announced this week that it will submit an application for additional funding. Once approved, no additional application will be necessary for claimants those who are eligible will be notified by email. The state will not contribute the extra $100 per week.
Alaska: Gov. Mike Dunleavys office said last week that he approved a plan to increase state unemployment benefits. Its uncertain when eligible unemployed workers can expect to receive the money. The state will not contribute the extra $100 per week.
Arizona: This was the first state to be approved for additional unemployment assistance, and eligible unemployed workers began receiving their extra $300 per week in benefits on Monday. The state opted not to contribute an additional $100 per week due to budget concerns.
Arkansas: The state is still considering whether it will participate in the program and plans to make a decision by Friday.
California: The state was approved for funding on Aug. 22. It wont contribute the extra $100 per week due to the cost. Its uncertain when benefits will be paid, but it may take up to 20 weeks to disburse payments because of issues with the states computer system.
Connecticut: The state has not announced whether it will participate.
District of Columbia: The District of Columbia has not announced whether it will participate.
When Will The $300 Unemployment Payments Kick In
In order to receive the additional $300 per week in FEMA assistance, states have to apply for it. Many states have applied already, and several have been approved. Keith Turi, FEMA assistant administrator for recovery, told reporters this week he believes a majority of states eventually will apply for the additional aid. However, there are quite a few states that have yet to apply, and a couple have declined the assistance.
I think the reason that states are reluctant to get engaged is because of the technology involved, said Jane Oates, a former U.S. Department of Labor official who now serves as president of the advocacy group WorkingNation. Many of the states are using antiquated technology that doesnt have interoperability. … its very difficult for them to add it to the unemployment checks of out-of-work workers.
Getting that money into unemployed workers pockets depends on when the state applied, when it gets approved for funding and how quickly it can update computer systems to handle the payments. Arizona, for example, has already paid out benefits to qualifying residents. Other states may need six weeks or longer to get up and running.
Recommended Reading: Max Unemployment Benefits Mn
Federal Unemployment Benefits Have Ended
Federal unemployment benefit programs under the CARES Act ended on September 4, 2021. You will no longer be paid benefits on the following claim types for weeks of unemployment after September 4:
Note:Federal-State Extended Duration benefits are no longer payable for weeks of unemployment after September 11.
The federal government does not allow benefit payments to be made for weeks of unemployment after these programs end, even if you have a balance left on your claim. Any pending payments for weeks of unemployment before the expiration of benefits will be processed retroactively if you are found eligible and did not receive conditional payments. You will be notified about what to expect based on your claim type.
Note: View the following to learn more about benefits ending and other assistance programs still available:
If your program type is:
View federal unemployment benefits and their limited availability.
Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Expired On Labor Day Could They Be Renewed
Millions of Americans lost jobless benefits this month. Some lawmakers are proposing that aid be reinstated in an upcoming spending package. Heres the latest.
The September termination of unemployment benefits was considered the largest in US history.
After the pandemic-related expansion of unemployment insurance ended on Sept. 6, roughly 7.5 million people lost their benefits entirely, with millions more losing the $300 weekly bonus checks. The temporary federal benefits which included coverage for those normally ineligible for jobless aid, like gig workers and the long-term unemployed were in place since spring 2020 to help those who lost income from COVID-19 restrictions or layoffs.
This week, a group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Reps. Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called to reform the unemployment system in the coming $3.5 trillion House spending plan. In a , they noted that the country now denies life-saving resources to over two-thirds of those without jobs, as aid now covers less than half of lost wages. They also noted that 90% of unemployed workers and especially Black and Brown communities have been left with no benefits at all.
With the uptick in delta-variant cases, the COVID era hasnt come to a close. Could the White House renew those extra benefits? What can people do who need unemployment coverage to make ends meet? Well explain below. This story has been recently updated.
Read Also: Sign Up For Unemployment In Tn
There Is Limited Evidence That Pandemic Ui Is Holding Back Job Creation
Outside of the minimum wage, the employment incentives of unemployment insurance have been one of the most studied issues in microeconomics. Unemployment benefits have a modest impact on the length of unemployment, with recent studies finding very modest elasticities between increases in unemployment benefit rates and the length of time unemployed. This includes a close comparison of neighboring counties in states that had access to ninety-nine weeks of unemployment during the great recession and those that did not. Careful economic research during the pandemic found that major changes in pandemic unemployment compensation, first from $600 to $300 in September, and then from $0 to $300 in January, had little impact either way on job finding rates. In particular, these studies contradict the conventional wisdom that non-college graduates and those getting the biggest boost in UI would be incentivized to stay home from work. For many, the COVID-19 pandemic has represented a uniquely temporary economic downturn. Transitory economic and public health barriers are driving many into unemployment and it is changes in these factors, not UI, that are largely driving the trend. To the extent that there are pockets of worker shortages, such as in the restaurant sector, its good news that employers are being forced to raise wages after months of reduced tips and high risks of infection from COVID-19 drove many away from these jobs.
What Happened When Some Gop
For most of the last year, expanded federal unemployment benefits helped keep Tammy Foster afloat while she was at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 47-year-old, who lives in Joplin, Missouri, was forced to leave her job as a robotics machine operator for a dairy company after a doctor advised her that it was unsafe for her to work during the pandemic due to complicating medical conditions, like diabetes. While state and federal unemployment assistance did not equal what she had been making at her previous job, which paid $20 an hour, it helped cover rent, food, utilities during the months she was not working.
But when Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced the state would stop providing additional federal unemployment benefits of $300 a week starting on June 12, Foster could no longer afford to stay home to stay safe. She and her husband both found lower-paying jobs at another food-manufacturing company in the area.
Foster had been working for four days when she started feeling ill. On July 6, she tested positive for COVID-19.
The moment I was forced to go back to work, my life was put at risk, said Foster, who had received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine before contracting the coronavirus.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Maximum Unemployment Benefit In Minnesota
Mixed Effect After Announcement That $300 Unemployment Benefit Would End Early
Jed Kolko, Chief Economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, a post analyzing job search activity on Indeed, an employment website, before and after states declared an end to the benefits. He noted that in May, there was an increase in job search activity in states that had announced an early end to the $300 federal unemployment benefit, compared to the national trends. In fact, there were nearly 5 percent more clicks on job posting in states that were ending the benefit early on the day governors made the announcement, when baselined against the last two weeks in April. Importantly this increase was temporary, vanishing by the eighth day after the announcement, Kolko wrote. In the second week after the announcement, the states share of national clicks was no higher than it was during the late-April baseline.
Kolko provided updated data in early June that many governors who cancelled benefits may not want to see. Search activity is up in some states that are opting out early of federal unemployment insurance benefits and down in others, he said. Interestingly, there are four states that chose a draconian cutoff date to end benefits, June 12, which is almost three months before the official end date of September 6. Kolko and the Indeed Hiring Lab team found that the share of national job search activity in these four states, measured by clicks on job postings, is several points below the late April baseline even though enhanced unemployment benefits are ending imminently.
About The Peuc Extension
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation provided up to 53 additional weeks of payments if youve used all of your available unemployment benefits.
- The first 13 weeks were available from March 29, 2020 to September 4, 2021. In UI Online, your claim type displays as PEUC.
- After collecting the first 13 weeks, an additional 11 weeks were available beginning on or after December 27, 2020 to September 4, 2021. Your claim type displays as Extension Tier 2 in UI Online.
- After collecting the first 24 weeks, an additional 29 weeks were available beginning on or after March 14, 2021 to September 4, 2021. Your claim type displays as Extension Tier 2 in UI Online.
To have qualified for a PEUC extension, your regular UI claim must have started on July 8, 2018, or after.
If you ran out of benefits within your benefit year
- If you ran out of benefits within your benefit year, we automatically filed your PEUC extension on your regular unemployment claim.
- If you were collecting on a FED-ED extension, you continued to collect it until it was exhausted. We filed the additional weeks of the PEUC extension after you used all FED-ED benefits.
If your benefit year ended
Also Check: Unclaimed Unemployment
Whats Next For Unemployment Benefits
As unemployment benefits are distributed in some states, and running out in others, distressed Americans and state budgets are exhausting their options.
And as the 2020 presidential election comes to an end, congressional lawmakers are resuming conversations to pass a second stimulus package, with extended unemployment benefits as pandemic related unemployment programs are set to expire at years end.
New Jersey $300 Unemployment Benefits
New Jersey similarly struggled with standing up a new system to deliver LWA benefits. Processing these payments required us to develop new programming that had not been tested previously, and it took longer than anticipated for the payments to go through, said the Department of Labor & Workforce Development in a press release. Our team worked around the clock to get this extra help to hundreds of thousands of people in our state who are in dire need because COVID-19 has upended their work situations.
On October 21, the state successfully processed $1.2 billion FEMA payments. Eligible New Jersey residents either received the benefit in their bank account last Friday, October 23 or are expected to receive the benefit by early this week, depending on their bank.
Also Check: Applying For Unemployment Tennessee
Does Peuc Get The Extra $300
5, 2021. Also, under the PEUC, the total number of weeks that an individual can claim benefits has been increased from 13 to 53 weeks. The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program also provided an additional $300 per week for unemployment beginning after Dec.26, 2020, and ending on or before Sept.
Gop Governors Say Payments Discourage Work Biden Says Child Care Covid
Listen to article
A growing number of Republican-led states are rejecting enhanced federal Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payments, saying the extra $300-a-week supplement is providing an incentive for some people to avoid work at a time when employers are struggling to find labor.
On Tuesday, Iowa and Tennessee joined the list of at least nine states that are moving toward the elimination of the extra benefits ahead of the programs scheduled expiration in September. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also called for an end to the bonus.
Don’t Miss: Www Tn Gov Workforce Howtofileui
These 30 States Will Get $300 A Week In Extended Unemployment Benefits
The past few months have been challenging for millions of Americans as the pandemic wages on. Thousands have lost their jobs and have been relying on unemployment checks to be able to keep food on the table and pay their bills. For many, the amount given each week is barely enough if it is to cover those costs and people are struggling. But there may be some help on the way with a new lost wages assistance program.
According to CNBC, 30 states have been approved to receive federal funding in a new program called lost wages assistance program. The plan was created through an executive measure signed on August 8, directing federal disaster-relief to unemployment workers.
Workers who are eligible for the aid will receive an additional $300 a week, on top of their current unemployment benefits, which was approved to help cover workers following the end of the CARES Act, which had been available from March through July.
For workers to be eligible for the additional lost wages assistance program, they have to take an extra step to self-certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to the pandemic. Workers can do this through their online portals, and theres no need to apply separately to the new program.
If you live in Kentucky, West Virginia, or Montana, officials have approved an additional $100 in the program from their federal coronavirus relief fund, for a total of $400 a week per worker, though other states may follow suit.
Related Articles:
Five Red States Look To End $300 Weekly Unemployment Benefit Will Others Do The Same
A growing number of Republican-led states are moving to end the extra $300 a week in Covid-19 pandemic-related unemployment benefits, arguing that the relief is discouraging U.S. workers from rejoining the labor force.
It has become clear to me that we cannot have a full economic recovery until we get the thousands of available jobs in our state filled, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said in a statement Monday, adding that the benefit will end next month. The purpose of unemployment benefits is to temporarily assist Mississippians who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
Reeves directed the state to enforce all eligibility requirements to receive unemployment benefits, a process that was waived during the pandemic.
Arkansas, South Carolina and Montana have also announced that they would end the program within the next month.
A disappointing April employment report found that the economy gained only 266,000 jobs despite widespread forecasts that the number would top 1 million and that the report would show strong payroll growth after widespread vaccinations spurred Americans to return to activities like dining out and traveling.
The unemployment rate rose from 6 percent to 6.1 percent, which was also contrary to expectations but still down from a peak of 14.8 percent in April 2020, the highest level since the Great Depression. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce blamed the $300-a-week federal benefit for the sluggish report.
Recommended Reading: Can Llc Owner Collect Unemployment
Cut Unemployment Benefits Will Hit Workers Of Color The Hardest
There are significant racial consequences that will follow the decisions to eliminate federal pandemic benefits. Fifty percent of South Carolina Unemployment Insurance recipients are Black, as are 54 percent of Alabamians on UI and 66 percent of Mississippis claimant population, three times or more than the national average of 18 percent. The employers complaining the most about worker shortages are the ones that have depended on a largely disempowered, non-unionized, Black workforce that make low wages. The cut-offs affecting these states thus will particularly target Black communities that endured near or over 10 percent unemployment rates as recently as the end of September . Federal unemployment programs, like PUA and PUC, were put into place to make up for the economic inequities that high-unemployment communities have faced as a result of state policies . Moreover, Black Americans have been hit the hardest by the pandemic and have special reason to be reticent about returning to work in states that have reopened despite low vaccination rates. The governors who have made the move to cut off benefits have rejected the leveling impact of federal programs, subjecting their most vulnerable populations to greatly increased risk of poverty and COVID-19 infection.
