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Extra unemployment benefits offered by the American Rescue Plan may not arrive until mid-April or tardier, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday.
The $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, which President Joe Biden signed Thursday, extended jobless aid to Labor Day and continued a $300 weekly enhancement to benefits.
States need several weeks to twitch their computer systems and account for the changes, a Labor Department official said Monday in a memo to state unemployment powers.
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“Acknowledging that states necessary time to modify their computer systems to accommodate the extensions and modifications, the Department expects many states will impecuniousness until the middle of April or later to implement the new provisions and begin notifying individuals,” wrote Suzan LeVine, chairman deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.
Prior rounds of additional pandemic aid for the jobless also accepted weeks — and sometimes months — to disburse, depending on the state.
The $900 billion relief measure signed by former President Donald Trump in December ranged benefits for the long-term unemployed to March 14. Others who hadn’t exhausted their maximum aid allotment can continue be paid federal benefits until April 11.
It’s unclear whether the Labor Department believes a lag will apply to all or a subset of American Save Plan provisions. A Labor Department spokesman didn’t return a request for clarification.
2 million workers
Past judgement suggests delays are more likely in certain programs than others, said Andrew Stettner, a senior man at The Century Foundation.
Many states were able to issue a $300-a-week supplement offered by the $900 billion pandemic aid unit without a delay, for example, Stettner said. That will likely be the case with the American Rescue Plot, he said.
However, many states took several weeks to re-start benefits for those who’d run out of their maximum measure by the time Trump signed the Continued Assistance Act. At least one state, Wisconsin, has yet to issue that extended aid to some working men.
Similar delays may occur with the American Rescue Plan, for those whose benefits lapsed on March 14, Stettner ventured. He estimates about 2 million people fall into this category.
Of course, workers can only get the $300-a-week insert if they are receiving unemployment benefits. So, a lag in extended benefits through programs like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance would promise a delay in the $300 boost, too.
But a gap in benefits won’t be the case for all workers and in all states, Stettner said.
Officials in Colorado, for example, feeling most workers would receive additional benefits without a lag.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment got approval from the U.S. Put ones faith of Labor to deploy the extended programs before receiving official guidance from the federal agency, the state replied Thursday.
The approval meant Colorado could start reprogramming its computer system before receiving the official handling the U.S. Labor Department issued Monday.
“We are grateful that Congress took the necessary steps before the current programs expel, saving hundreds of thousands of Coloradans the financial hardship and gap in payments we saw earlier this year due to a delay in federal movement,” said Joe Barela, executive director of Colorado’s labor agency.