Pandemic-related expanded unemployment benefits have expired, perhaps for good.
Some people—mostly governors and state officials—seem to think that the pandemic is over. Know what’s really over? Pandemic-related expanded unemployment benefits, which expired earlier this month in many states. The payments, which started as $600 weekly supplements to state unemployment payments and were later throttled back to $300 per week, became a political lightning rod after conservatives and business owners blamed federal aid for a nationwide “labor shortage.” As a result, about half of states elected to phase out the benefits ahead of Monday’s expiration date. An estimated 7.5 million people were affected by the cutoff, The New York Times reports.
