After 18 months in effect, the nation’s expansion of unemployment benefits came to a close this weekend and will likely remain that way.
The relief effort intended for out-of-work Americans offered a weekly supplement of $600 from April 2020 to July 2020. That was reduced to $300 a week in December and extended again in March.
Though states were given the option to use their federal relief funds to extend the program in their jurisdictions, none has opted to do so.
More than 8 million people with no income will be affected while another 2.7 million will continue receiving state payments.
There are currently 10 million job openings in the country, but 340,000 filed new unemployment claims in the past week. There are 2.75 million continuing claims.
Employment is not expected to rise as labor markets, childcare and health concerns about spreading the virus didn’t improve.
The Century Foundation called the move “economically short-sighted.”
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“There are currently 10 million job openings in the country, but 340,000 filed new unemployment claims in the past week. There are 2.75 million continuing claims.”
These people need to get back to work. Here in my area in Virginia, restaurants are really hurting to keep staff and the resulting reduction in workforce brings service to a crawl. The local Cracker Barrel here has gotten terrible. It isn’t just restaurants—the shop that does my automotive work is now closed on Saturdays because they can’t keep positions filled.
These benefit payments are only making things difficult for the rest of us.
As the “scheme” intended. Even raising wages for burger flippers to 14.50 ph left with “drive thru only” here in Payson, Arizona, Some were making more than their “salaried” managers/supervisors.
END ALL benefits.. Get off your but and find work, or STARVE!
I also wonder.. ARE they ‘removing these benefits’ RIGHT as the same time we see MORE AND MORE businesses willing to ‘fire you if you refuse to get the shot’??
Is there a correlation between the two?