In another out-of-touch move for the federal government, on June 26th almost 1 million gig workers will lose their eligibility for enhanced jobless benefits. These benefits were set up as part of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (AUP) program. The program will come to a grinding halt, with most GOP governors citing, “a desperate need for workers among employers such as restaurants and retailers that are reopening to the public.”
20 States Ending PUA Benefits in June/July
- Alabama (ended 6/19)
- Arkansas (6/26)
- Georgia (6/27)
- Idaho (ended 6/19)
- Indiana (ended 6/19)
- Iowa (6/12)
- Mississippi (ended 6/12)
- Missouri (ended 6/12)
- Montana (6/27)
- Nebraska (ended 6/19)
- New Hampshire (ended 6/19)
- North Dakota (ended 6/19)
- Oklahoma (6/26)
- South Carolina (6/30)
- South Dakota (6/26)
- Tennessee (7/03)
- Texas (6/26)
- Utah (6/26)
- West Virginia (ended 6/19)
- Wyoming (ended 6/19)
This “catch-all” ruling affects workers who have no experience in the retail industry and those who have been utilizing these benefits while their industries remain closed. As mentioned in the CBSNews article, without PUA, self-employed workers in those states will be stripped of all jobless aid. The temporary program was designed by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, to provide support for a growing group of nontraditional workers in America’s gig economy, who don’t otherwise qualify for regular unemployment aid.
To be sure, the governors of those states ending the PUA program also are cutting the extra $300 in weekly benefits directed at millions of other jobless workers who lost their positions with employers. However, many of those workers will continue to qualify for traditional state jobless aid. Not so with self-employed workers.
We can totally understand the frustrations that a lot of citizens are feeling when the federal government provides help to people in need, but state representatives deny that help to the people who need it most.
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