Millions of people could face lower unemployment benefits or lose them altogether

Millions of Americans are on the verge of losing their unemployment benefits or seeing a lower weekly payment due to a collision of state rules and the expiration of federal programs.

These workers are nearing the end of their “benefit year,” which marks one year since seeking help.

Seeking help beyond this point usually triggers a review of state employment agencies. They assess a worker’s recent earnings to determine whether the person is eligible for a new benefit payment and, if so, the appropriate amount.

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However, beneficiaries who have not found a job or who have worked a few hours since the start of the pandemic may be out of luck. Low income will likely mean a much smaller or no benefit.

So far, a federal program – Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation – has largely kept income support intact for these long-term unemployed, even though their “benefit year” has passed.

But that program ends across the country after Labor Day. About two dozen states, most of them ruled by Republicans, ended it early.

According to data from the Ministry of Labor, around 4.7 million people – a third of all beneficiaries – were receiving benefits through the program as of June 26.

It is not known how many of them first applied for benefits over a year ago. But another set of data, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggests that 2.9 million Americans have been unemployed for more than a year, although not all necessarily receive unemployment benefits.

“Maybe there could be several hundred thousand, maybe a million in the high end [who’d qualify for benefits again]”said Andrew Stettner, senior researcher and unemployment expert at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank.

“And for everyone else, they will have to scramble to find a job, get food stamps, use their savings,” he added. “Rent assistance should still be available, but they really won’t have any cash income. “

(This benefit year question applies to people eligible to receive state unemployment insurance. About 5.7 million self-employed, concert, self-employed and other workers not eligible for benefits. State benefits receive federal assistance through the Unemployment Pandemic Assistance Program, which also ends in September. 6.)

The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program has been available to workers since the start of the pandemic.

Created by the CARES Act, it offers assistance to those who exhaust their standard state benefit allowance – typically up to 26 weeks but sometimes much less, depending on the state.

Congress has twice extended the duration of the program via the Covid relief measures adopted in December and March. The most recent, the American Rescue Plan, extended it until September 6.

Twenty-two states elected to end federal unemployment assistance – including assistance for the long-term unemployed – in June or July. (Four others opted for an early termination of a $ 300 weekly benefit supplement.)

State officials claimed that the additional benefits required beneficiaries to stay at home instead of looking for a job. Critics of this position say other factors, such as health risks and childcare duties, have played a larger role in perceived labor shortages.

Meanwhile, an increase in Covid cases in the United States from the delta variant, largely among the unvaccinated, can negatively impact local economies and potentially cause workers to turn to the virus again. unemployment system.

States use different formulas to determine how workers can re-qualify for assistance after their benefit year has passed. All require at least a recent work history to be eligible, although to varying degrees.

“This new year of benefits will be based on earnings throughout the pandemic,” said Michele Evermore, senior unemployment insurance policy advisor at the Department of Employment and Training Administration. United States Labor. “And [payments] may be considerably less than what they were previously receiving, if they are eligible at all. “