Unemployment Benefits May No Longer Be Available Soon
Many states do not have the same money allocated to unemployment insurance as before the pandemic meaning those in need will not have access to help if laid off.
Unemployment insurance benefits that were made available during the pandemic may not be around for much longer. When the pandemic started and people were asked to stay at home and isolate, the government made some unemployment insurance benefits available to people who, in other circumstances, would not be eligible for such help. But as this allocation of support was only temporary, people cannot count on the enhanced help forever.
According to Insider, many states have cut back the criteria for their unemployment insurance benefits, while other states did not take up the offer for extra employment programs to entice people to return to work. This plan did not work as the unemployment number stayed relatively the same but left people worried about how they would provide the necessities and pay their bills.
These benefits helped out so many Americans in what was an uncertain and stressful time for everyone. But as we are now in another uncertain economic time, can Americans count on the same help again when it comes to unemployment insurance? It seems not.
The unprecedented government help was the first of its kind and was received by many nationwide, but it is unlikely to be repeated.
On close inspection, the benefits given to citizens when they are made unemployed are severely lacking. Unemployment insurance benefits will not replicate anywhere near the salary that was previously earned. The average weekly benefit accounts for just 39% of the wages people made before being unemployed. By comparison, the same weekly benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic was 79% of people’s weekly salary, a vast improvement.
As with everything, once the application is completed for benefits, it can take twenty-one days or longer to receive any payments. So if people are low on cash flow, they could have to wait for nearly a month before receiving 39% of their previous wages. It sounds like a system that needs to be revised to meet the needs of its people.
There are poverty gaps that are coming to light in the wake of unemployment insurance benefits dropping down to their original amount. Those the most in need, after having been laid off, are likely to be the most to suffer if a major recession hits. This is especially true if states are ill-prepared for another event that could trigger large-scale unemployment.
All this does not sound good in the economic climate we are now living in, with a recession threatening every week, hyperinflation on the rise, and the ever-present cost of living crisis.
Post-pandemic, the world is a scary place. There is so much economic uncertainty it is hard to look very far into the future as it is entirely unknown. Threatening recession and job security do not go hand in hand. It is an even bigger worry to know that unemployment insurance benefits will not even cover half of the wages made by the population.
American citizens have been through enough over the last few years; do they really need to worry about feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads?
