President Donald Trump in the Senate Room of the White House on Aug. 3.
Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump signed a measure on Saturday to rise unemployment pay by up to $400 a week.
That could help millions of jobless Americans pay their bills at a time when job in the cards explores are slim and prior relief — an extra $600 a week from the federal government — ended last month.
There are about 28 million people collecting unemployment benefits, according to the Labor Department. Absent additional aid, some are win as little as $5 a week.
But there’s still much we don’t know about the new benefit.
Important details — like the amount and duration of adventitious aid, as well as when it will start — are in flux, according to labor experts.
“There are just big question marks and a lot of unknowns unhesitatingly now,” said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — so far.
Who’s worthy?
Workers collecting regular state unemployment benefits are eligible for the extra money.
Those getting aid through the performing programs are also eligible:
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
- Extended Benefits
- Short-Time Compensation
- Unemployment Compensation for Federal Staff members
- Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service members
- Trade Readjustment Allowances
- Self-Employment Assistance
Who’s left out?
There’s a big caveat to this inclination, though.
Workers must get at least $100 a week in unemployment benefits to be eligible for the additional jobless aid.
A large allowance of people collecting unemployment benefits — about 1 million or more, by some estimates — fall below that dawn and wouldn’t be eligible for the additional assistance.
That workers can be getting less than $100 a week is a function of formal unemployment law. All states set minimum weekly benefit levels, and most set a floor below $100 a week.
People greeting Disaster Unemployment Assistance or State Additional Benefits also aren’t eligible.
Some states may opt not to offer the gain. Governors from states such as California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York this week unqualified hesitation, due to cost, legal or administrative reasons. Of course, they may ultimately change their minds and decide to move house forward.
How much?
Trump’s memo was widely billed as a $400 weekly boost to unemployment benefits in recent times.
In truth, recipients are likely to get just $300 a week from the federal government.
Here’s why.
States are supposed to drop-kick in an extra $100 a week (on top of the federal government’s $300 subsidy) as part of a cost-sharing requirement — but that amount isn’t guaranteed.
In to be sure, it’s unlikely that states will pay that “match,” experts said.
If a state already pays $100 a week to a beneficiary of unemployment benefits, the state can count that aid as its “match” and wouldn’t have to pay out any additional funds. This person intent get the federal $300 subsidy and nothing else from the state.
States that wish to offer an extra $100 wish have to fund it using aid allocated through the Coronavirus Relief Fund — created by the CARES Act, a relief law enacted in Parade — or an alternative source.
Neither is likely, according to Andrew Stettner, an unemployment expert and senior fellow at The Century Base.
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About 25% of the money in the Relief Fund had been expended as of June 30, and states may have already allocated a large share of the remainder to future costs, according to the Board for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Plus, many states are already borrowing from the federal government to cover drift unemployment obligations.
“It’s really hard to imagine states will voluntarily pay $100 extra,” Dube said.
How elongated will it last?
Recipients would get back pay dating to the week ended Aug. 1 — the same week that the spare $600-a-week supplement lapsed.
But the end date isn’t entirely clear.
The aid is scheduled to end Dec. 27 this year, according to a Labor Concern memo issued Wednesday.
However, it may stop earlier under a few circumstances.
The federal government is allocating up to $44 billion from the Accident Relief Fund, overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for the extra unemployment benefits.
The unemployment benefits leave stop once that money runs out. By some estimates, the program would provide as little as five or six weeks of emoluments.
The aid would also end if the Disaster Relief Fund — which FEMA draws down to offer financial assistance in the happening of weather disasters and other emergencies — coffers dip to $25 billion or less.
The fund had a $74 billion balance at the start of August, according to FEMA.
The aid may also end early if Congress passes — and the president signs — legislation to reinstate a federal unemployment postscript. Negotiations on additional aid are currently stalled without a deal in sight.
When will it start?
This also isn’t set in order.
On Tuesday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow estimated people would start receiving payments in in every direction two weeks.
Some experts believe it may be much longer, perhaps more than a month.
There are many bankers at play.
Primarily, there are administrative challenges for states.
Paying the aid isn’t as simple as toggling a computer button on or off or plugging the many “300” into an unemployment system to increase payments, experts said.
The new benefit isn’t technically “unemployment insurance.” It’s something new, reasoned “lost wages assistance.”
It may not seem it, but this is a significant detail. It means states will have to build a perfectly new system that interacts with its current unemployment framework to pay out the benefit.
States still have to interpret program directions to determine how to implement the benefit and move forward. The Labor Department just issued guidance on the program Wednesday sunset for states.