Eight states — Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming — are opting out of federal unemployment benefit programs on Saturday.
About 417,000 people will lose a $300 weekly supplement and other benefits, according to a CNBC analysis of Labor Department data.
Residents of Indiana sued Gov. Eric Holcomb this week to keep the aid flowing.
Vendredi 18 juin 2021 ((rezonodwes,com))–States to end unemployment benefits for more than 400,000 people this weekend. Eight states will end federally enhanced unemployment benefits Saturday, reducing the weekly amount that people claiming unemployment benefits receive by $300.
Overall, 25 states have indicated they will curtail the benefit before it is set to expire on September 6. All of the states are led by Republican governors who have argued it is contributing to a labor shortage that is making it difficult for companies to hire workers to fill some 9 million open positions. The curtailment of the benefit will affect roughly 4 million people, HuffPost reported.
« My decision is based on a fundamental conservative principle — we do not want people on unemployment, » Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in May when he announced the change. « We want people working. A strong economy cannot exist without workers returning to a job. »
Economists differ on how much the added unemployment benefit has factored into the labor shortage being seen across many industries. Fear of COVID-19, difficulty finding child care and low wages are all reasons cited for the fact that so many people are staying out of the labor force. There is also the fact that about 28.6 million baby boomers chose to retire last year, 3.2 million more than in 2019.
The strong performance of the stock market, along with record levels of homeowner equity, has helped personal income grow significantly over the past year, which may also be a factor.
