Over one million people currently jobless and collecting unemployment will see their weekly unemployment drop by $300 as federal unemployment benefits end.
Sept. 6 will be the end of the payments, funded by the American Rescue Plan.
Professor of Economics at Nazareth College, Joe DaBall-Lavoie said that in comparison to last year, the number of children in poverty has decreased greatly, meaning the payments did what they were meant to do.
Other states have opted out of the federal payments but New York has not.
Data is showing people are not returning to the workforce in the way that was originally anticipated.
States that ended the benefits early had people returning to work at half the rate compared to states that extended the benefits.
DaBoll-Lavoie said people are realizing that both the labor market and people’s lives are really complicated.
States that chose to end benefits had an average growth of 2.2% for people returning to work, and states that kept the benefits have seen on average 4.1%.
DaBoll-Lavoie thinks the reasons are very different for every person deciding whether they want to go back or not.
Reasons range from childcare, eldercare, and illness to people deciding they want to be paid better.
Some have just decided they’ve had enough.
Data showed 48% of low wage workers made more collecting benefits.
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