Roughly 7.5 million workers who’ve relied on pandemic-era unemployment benefits will be cut off from jobless aid altogether when they are set to expire on September 6, according to estimates from The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank.
As of mid-July, roughly 9.4 million people were drawing benefits from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
“While pandemic unemployment programs officially run until September, governors in 26 states withdrew early in June and July. The moves left some 1.6 million workers without any jobless aid over the last month”, according to a statement from Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.
Since July, Keeton has been getting by with financial help from friends and family. “If it weren’t for friends and family, if I didn’t have this community, I would be in my car,” Keeton tells CNBC Make It. “That’s if I could keep my car. If not, I’d be on the street or in a shelter.”
In Atlanta, Jennifer Askew, 39, said her PUA benefits were “a lifeline” to stay in her apartment, pay for utilities and buy groceries. The state of Georgia stopped providing PUA on June 27. “As some job sectors go back to normal, others have been forgotten about,” Askew says. “And with the delta variant beginning to surge again, I’m worried. Are they going to shut down the courts or prohibit gatherings again? With so much uncertainty around [Covid], it feels like the worst time to end benefits.”
With the delta variant making its way across the country, jobless people are more stressed and scared of what to do. The situation is not good at all and it is definitely the cause of major concern among the public. What comes Next is something to see. We are definitely not ready for it.
