Confusing Array of State and Federal Programs
My chart is modified from CBPP Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Policy Basics: How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available?
Where I show two numbers, the first number is regular state unemployment insurance and the second number (if present) represents extended benefits.
I suggested a change in the CBPP chart as I posted above, breaking out South Carolina and noting most states have 39 or more weeks of benefits in addition to 13 weeks of PEUC,
Key Points
- Most states offer at least 26 weeks of unemployment insurance plus 13 or more weeks of extended benefits. Some states offer more. States offering 30 or fewer weeks are noted.
- A Federal pandemic PEUC (Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation) program kicks in after regular state programs expire. PEUC provides 13 weeks of compensation at the paid state level but the money comes from the federal government. Every state participates in PEUC. It kicks in before extended benefits.
- Persons not eligible for state claims can file for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. PUA covers gig workers and self-employed workers who are not covered by state programs. It also covers part-time workers. PUA is rife with fraud and terrible reporting.
- After PEUC expires, most but not all states have Extended Benefit programs also paid by the federal government but not every state is in the program.
Extended Benefits Triggered in 41 States
CBPP notes “Extended Benefits (EB) have triggered on in 41 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Through the end of 2020, additional weeks of federal benefits are also available.”
Week 32 of the Pandemic
Unemployment Math
- Unemployment spiked on March 21.
- We are in week 32 of the pandemic.
- The federal government provides 13 weeks of unemployment insurance to all states.
- 32 – 13 = 19.
If you lost your job early in any state that provides 19 or less weeks of state + extended benefits, then you have exhausted all of your state benefits and all of your PEUC benefits.
Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina are in that group. Missouri and Idaho are a week and three weeks away respectively.
Those in state programs are not eligible for PUA. One must first apply at the state level.
PUA Rules
Please consider the Justia report on Coronavirus and Unemployment Benefits: 50-State Resources.
The PUA benefit amount is distinct from the standard unemployment benefit amount listed for each state. It cannot exceed the maximum weekly unemployment benefit in the claimant’s state, and the minimum amount is half of the applicable state’s average weekly unemployment benefit amount.
States With Expired or Expiring Programs
- Alabama: Standard Benefit Amount: $45 – $275 per week
- Arkansas: Standard Benefit Amount: $81 – $451 per week
- Florida: Standard Benefit Amount: $32 – $275 per week
- North Carolina: Standard Benefit Amount: $15 – $350 per week
- Missouri: Standard Benefit Amount: $35 – $320 per week
- Idaho: Standard Benefit Amount: $72 – $448 per week
Those who expired all of their state benefits will get no more than the listed maximums. The minimum is a mere 50% of the state average.
Massachusetts and Washington provide the highest benefits with maximums over $800.
Five states (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) have a maximum weekly benefit under $300.
Mississippi was dead last at $235 per week.
There are a lot of people in deep serious trouble, with more in that position every week.
Mish
The maximum unemployment insurance payouts are hardly a breath to a drowning swimmer. If taxes were increased to make UI payouts a life-preserver, fewer people would have jobs.
Didn’t I read somewhere that 100,000 small businesses have closed, possibly never to reopen? And aren’t there 6 million homeowners who didn’t pay their mortgages? And aren’t there about 20 million renters who could be evicted? With numbers that massive–oh, and don’t forget real unemployment is 25%–only the government has the wherewithal to solve the problems. I’m still waiting….
People may be WFH, but there are a lot of “hidden” people whose jobs depend on the office buildings being occupied.
everything is NOT re-opening In fact here in the middle west businesses e.g restaurants are now CLOSING up for the winter because they cant afford to pay the bills since there is no outdoor dining They are hoping and I stress hoping they can re-open in the spring
Those that remain open may well jack up their prices. My everyday sandwich shop/deli a couple blocks from the office is now my special occasion/treat sandwich shop and deli. Not sure who can afford to spend $16 for a roast beef and cheese sandwich of modest proportions and a fountain drink. My regular supermarket priced a 2 lb package of stew beef at $16.39. Yikes.
Pelosi had 4 chances to pass a clean bill which would have given benefits to the unemployed, but she is holding the unemployed for ransom trying to get money for California public unions. The Democrats do not care about the unemployed, only their PAC’s
39 weeks to find a job? Almost everything is back open. I suspect most have been more than happy to take a 39 week paid vacation.
When Trump came here to Pennsylvania there were a zillion buses that brought people in – these were not local folks. I don’t know if they were paid but many left the rally early to board the buses before they left without them. Shady stuff.
“Almost everything is back open.” Delusional. Get out of your bubble!
Or just get out of California!
Disneyland (CA) – Closed
Disneyworld (FL) – Open
You cannot be serious.
Retail layoffs huge and growing.
Restaurants devastated.
I know that “wind turbine technician” jobs are plentiful, but they do not equal the losses in retail.
Take a look at this graph–it hasn’t improved much in the last few months. Low occupancy means faw fewer workers that provide services to these office workers. I am in the downtown area quite frequently, and all of the little shops and restaurants remain closed, and the few that are open have only a handful of customers at the lunch rush-hours. Only the chains can stay open..
The entire events-hospitality-travel complex no longer exists. What in the actual fuck are you talking about?
I think this pretty much sums up how much Trump cares about his supporters and the rest of us: thousands of Trump supporters left to freeze to death on airfield link to twitter.com
So, you think it’s up to Trump to insure everyone attending his rally has an expedient ride home.
Agreed, they need a dose of reality
Of course not. He’s not responsible at all. For anything.
Oddly there was no news of anyone freezing to death. It’s a good thing they invented these things called “coats”. Most people in Nebraska own one.
Pick your favorite large Democratically run city to say how the Democrats treat people. I’ll take the logistical SNAFU over the “Its okay to riot” mindset, any day!
Kinda looking like we have just entered into the actual pandemic season. This whole last year has just been practice for the massive wave that is coming.
So far most job losses have been lower income. Things will get real when the upper/middle class start to lose jobs. One 100k a year loss = 5 20k a year losses. Also unemployment benefits will support that 20k a year loss but only a fraction of the 100k loss.
Unfortunately it looks like economy pain is headed this way. We are a consumption based economy. Changing behaviors means less consumption in many areas.
Anyone remember when we were citizens, not consumers?
You can’t possibly be that old.
And can you remember when you could go vote in less than 8 hours in dem districts?
No line to the dropoff box at the DelMar library.
No line when I dropped off at the library, either. It took less than 15 seconds.
Will have long lasting effects. I think there will still be more business closures as well, which lead to more unemployed. A 2nd lockdown would be crushing. I do think the holiday season might provide for some optimistic figures from seasonal workers, but that will be short lived. Lots of issues coming down the pipline and I dont see anyone in Washington doing anything. My hope is they pass a stimulus right after election and make things somewhat retroactive to help those that need help. I agree that there is fraud, but the risk of not doing anything far outweighs the risk of fraud in my opinion
By the time the 117th congress is sworn in and Biden becomes president to sign that legislation it will be way too late for tens of millions. Isn’t it funny how the end of so much UI will coincide with the election? Maybe like the GOP planned it to time like that, people will be relatively flexible in political opinion when they are getting a regular check even if it is very small. So, the GOP went along with the idea of paying them till November 3, after that those checks go away and the GOP will do what they always do, tell them to get a job even though there are no jobs to get. The GOP will have no further use of these people once their vote is cast.
The democrats also went along with it as their way of saying you will get relief up to election day, if you want it to go beyond that you have to vote for us.
And we are pretty stuck with paying this relief because the pandemic was so mishandled. It does not even matter if you are left or right it was mishandled and going on a quarter million dead later and an economy flattened it is still being mishandled.
If you are on the left the answer would have been mandatory mask utilization, targeted shutdowns in areas with high/rising infection rates, social distancing, and mandatory contact tracing. All together this would have flattened the curve early and kept it there, they also would have supported those that needed support though people would have needed a lot less support than now. They would have distributed masks, used military logistics to make sure hospital supplies were where they needed to be, not waited so long to do everything.
If you are on the right the way to handle it would have been no handling at all.
Either way it was not done as either would have wanted, it was done to suit Trump and Wall Street, the 1%.
And unlike Trump and his braindead support this is not going away, it is only going to get worse.
By the way, there are now also serious questions as to the safety and duration of protection afforded by the vaccines. We may not be getting a “get out of pandemic free” card anytime soon. There also is an outbreak in Trondhiem Norway of a new strain that is a lot more contagious and dangerous. Thanks to Norway’s strict policies and epidemic measures they hope they have it contained, but it got there somehow and wherever it originated it could be spreading from there.
“…because the pandemic was so mishandled”
Who has handled it correctly?
south Korea, New Zealand to name two
It’s too late for washington to pass anything meaningful now without an unacceptable amount of new bureaucracy to figure out who is still unemployed. Wasted chances. The blow will be hard and long lasting.
The easiest thing to do would be to do an emergency extension of PEUC for an additional 13 weeks while they get their stuff together. The states already deal with PEUC so it is not that big of a deal. Cutting everyone off at Christmas is just cruel and with infections spiking hiring is going to be sloooow.
Train wreck, thanks to all the posturing by both sides in the Congress in an election season. We’ll be lucky if they don’t trigger a depression before this is over.
Sorry Eddie, I usually agree with you more but posturing on BOTH SIDES? BULLSHIT!
The dems have pass one bill at $3.4 trillion in freaking MAY! And the senate GOP would not even talk about it, they did not come up with ANY alternative till the end of September and that was only $500 billion for business. Pelosi has been willing to compromise and dropped to two trillion negotiating with the White House and they were fairly close to an agreement till Trump stepped in and killed it. So, Pelosi walked away and so she SHOULD have, she did her best and just got crapped on by a game playing Trump/Mnuchin. Those two do not even have the authority to cut a deal in the first place, no deal could have been done without Moscow Mitch introducing it to the senate floor for arguments and a vote, but he has made it ABSOLUTELY CRYSTAL CLEAR that there will be no Covid relief for anyone anywhere unless it is the relef he personally demands. And that relief is for Wall Street only.
That plays well in honky tonks in KY and WY, and maybe even ID, but it will deliver the blame for the lack of action exactly where it belongs for 90% of us, at Moscow Mitch’s and the GOP’s doorstep, it is their baby and they own it all the way. We will see what voters feel about this in a week.
I’m in favor of a bigger bill, not a smaller one…..but Pelosi could have gotten A deal of some kind.
Not getting a deal favors the Dems in the election…..because it makes the austerity loving conservatives like McConnell look like uncaring *holes, which one could argue is exactly what they are, of course.
McConnell’s stinginess plays well to conservatives even on a forum like this…because (as you can read this morning) they blame it on everything the Fed’s done since 1914.
Frankly, that doesn’t matter right now. A little Keynesianism right now is what will save the bacon for everybody…..the profligate behavior of the past is not an excuse for not acting now.
But….I take your point.
No, the GOP does not want ANY bill at all but would give billions to Wall Street if they have to. If pelosi agreed to smaller partial bills that would be all she would get. That would amount to an EPIC failure to negotiate. It is like bluffing at a poker table knowing your nose turns brilliant red when you bluff.
The ONLY thing Moscow Mitch would ever have agreed to is exactly what he proposed, $500 billion for business and nothing for states or people. And it is within the rights of and interests of the democrats to simply reject that because the POEOPLE, the nation needs more than that. She did the right thing by letting the voters decide, what is more important? The people in a national emergency? Or corporations that can borrow their way out of current difficulty at nearly zero percent interest or less?
So the voters will decide, do I need help? Or do I need austerity more than people need a roof or food? My guess is her bet as well, in an election where it is going to come down to a handfull of states slammed by Covid that are toss ups you only have to change a few voter’s minds. And there are a lot more people panicking over eviction and food security or paying the light bill right now than there are wondering how it gets paid for.
What is “posturing”? Posturing is taking a position that you know is impossible, and doing so only for appearances, not at attempt at legislation. There was posturing only on one side. It was clearly the Democrats who were posturing. The deliberately passed a bill that they knew was totally unacceptable, and that they knew would never get through. The only reason to pass it was for appearances, and for no other reason. $3.7T? That’s crazy. A few trillion year, a few trillion there, soon you are talking about real money.
Meanwhile, the Republicans were’t posturing. During the summer they felt that no additional stimulus was needed at the time, and it would seem they were correct. The economy has not collapsed. Once they did feel that additional stimulus was needed, they tried to get a serious bill passed, and that’s when we got into a partisan disagreement. That, however, was simply a disagreement over what was needed, though, not posturing. At that point, they were actually trying to get a deal done, but never were able to reach agreement.
You said “What is “posturing”? Posturing is taking a position that you know is impossible…”
No Carl, posturing is a negotiation tactic where you ask for way more than you think you can get or even want. You know you are not going to get $13 trillion for slave reparations and at best maybe half a billion, that makes the original demand POSTURING because it gives you headlines and press coverage.
Democrats passed a bill of $3.4 trillion because they knew the GOP would not pass any amount at all. And that is exactly what happened. Moscow Mitch did not repond at all, he said the senate would come up with a counter offer to the $3.4 trillion dem Heroes Act, but it only took him what 135 days? And when he did he could not even get that proposal through his own senate. Half a billion for Wall Street, and his own senate would not pass it.
In order to be a player you have to play. What McConnell proposed was not even enough to satisfy his own republican caucus. And since then his words amount to FUCK IT! We are going to lose the presidency and senate majority anyway so why should I help out the democrats.
The problem here is the democrats want that assistance for you and me and our states, and to slow Covid. Do you know how many people that will die because Moscow Mitch acts like a child and gives the finger to America because he knows he is going to lose power? Maybe the democrats want too much money for us, but I would rather government err on the side of too much during a national emergency than suddenly discover fiscal austerity and the only reason they are all of a sudden worried about debt is they KNOW Trump is going to lose and take them with him. It is just what they did in 2008 when they knew McCain was going to lose and Obama win, they sabotaged the nation like spoiled 5 year olds.
I do not give one puckered rats ass how much Pelosi wants for relief, it is her house and the US House is by our constitution in charge of the purse strings. The fact that the one asshole from KY in charge of a bot majority in the senate will not agree to ANYTHING the dems want no matter how important to the nation is all I need to know and we saw this when they would not even give Obama the right to appoint judges.
When RBG died just 40 days ago they slammed that bitch through before RBG’s body was cold saying IF THE SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT!
Well, come Tuesday the shoe WILL be on the other foot. And we are going to play just as nasty as the GOP. The court will be packed. Fifteen seats should do it. We will get statehood for DC and Puerto Rico. That should make sure the senate never again falls into Nazi hands. It is all perfectly legal and constitutional. We always tried reason and moderation and compromise, Moscow Mitch and Donald Trump have changed the game and left us no choice. We will do what has to be done to stop fascism no matter what it takes. Democrats are about to show republicans what asshole pricks those republicans really are just by voting. And if it comes to war BRING IT ON. Time to liquidate the white power nationalist Nazis anyway!
OK, Herkie, first of all, it would seem that you agree with me about posturing because, by your definition, Pelosi was posturing, and McConnell was not; McConnell simply did not want a bill at all, and said as much. I fully support McConnell’s decision not to pass a second bill at time when it obviously was not needed. Is another one needed now? Perhaps, but it certainly was not needed 6 months ago.
Beyond that, your post, with the threat to attempt to establish an autocratic dictatorship which assures a single party has 100% of the power and can maintain if forever has jarred me back to reality. Now I understand why people would be eager, even desperate, to vote for Trump, even though he is scum, and the reason is to prevent a loss of all freedoms. Fascism is fascism, and I oppose a fascist rule by Democrats as much as a fascist rule by Republicans. To preserve our freedoms, we need a right to free speech. Beyond that, it is important that neither party can establish control over all three branches of the government, and then change the rules to assure they can control them in perpetuity. We seem to be headed for “1984”, where one party has complete control, and where the Ministry of Truth decides what is true and what is not.
Thankfully, Biden is not talking the way that you are. He is talking about exactly the opposite thing, in fact. He is talking about the importance of moving away from partisan extremism on both sides, and about the importance of bipartisan cooperation. I agree with Biden 100%. The country can never heal by building more hate on both sides. That can only lead to the tearing apart of our country, and to civil war. The country will end soon enough; we don’t need to expedite it by encouraging even more extremism.
I have great hopes for a Biden presidency. I hope he can calm the anger on both sides, and lead to a period of bi-partisan cooperation and moderation. His long record is a history of bi-partisan cooperation, so I think there is a good chance that he can lead the US back away from the precipice of hate and self destruction where it is today.
Carl, that is 100% baloney, rationalizations wrapped in resonable sounding words, that are based on a core of lies. Trumpism and the people who have fallen into that trap is no different from what happened in Germany in 20th century under Hitler, I will remind you he was in power for a decade before they started the holocaust. Up till then they were just putting kids in cages.
I do not agree with you that somehow Pelosi was unreasonable and “posturing” when Moscow Mitch was not, nor do I agree with you that the Covid relief was not needed “back then.” Part of the reason the Heroes Act was passed in May was because it takes a long time to reconcile the two houses versions of a law and especially when you know in advance the dick in charge of the senate is going to call the house bill DOA no matter what it is, in that matter it was a political ploy, because Pelosi and the dems that voted for it knew McConnell was not even going to look at the legislation they passed.
But, they had every reason to think that he would pass an alternative bill that they then could spend a couple months hammering out a compromise, by which time if it was not needed in May it damned well would be by July when previously passed assistance measures were expiring, like forebarence, like eviction moritoriums, like extended unemployment benefits, like programs to prove PPE running out.
But the response from the senate was and STILL is CRICKETS.
This total lack of care on the part of republicans is going to kill people and damage the economy. And not only do they NOT care they are doing it intentionally because they know that the massive damage they are inflicting on the nation is going to be for the left to deal with, the right is going to be kicked to the curb on Tuesday, so all they have to do is sit back and let the damage happen so the dems get blamed.
They did the same goddamned thing in 2008 with the GFC. WTF they said, why should we do anything to help that incomming blue wave and their African American leader (and that is not the term for him they used but I am pretty sure calling Obama what they call him violates the terms of service at this page). They stuck Obama with the the largest single year deficit in US history to that date. They stuck him with more than 10% unemployment, they stuck him with a financial industry in ruins that had to be bailed out to the tune of trillions.
It took Obama 8 years to slash that deficit in half, to get unemployment back to under 4%, which Trump took over and in just one four year term has added more than $7 trillion in new debt and seen mor epeople file unemployment claims in 2020 that voted for him in 2016. All that and unleased a virulent racism and political civil war that threatens to become a REAL civil war or simply end this nation and the right applauds him. This is not even politics at all, it is treason.
And you are worried about how Pelosi conducts negotiation with that pig Moscow Mitch?
To be clear, I don’t like Trump at all, and consider him evil. Yes, if he had his way, he very well might want to be Dictator. However, I don’t consider the scenario of “1984” any more pleasant than Hitler. I don’t want a one-party system control by Democrats, with a “Ministry of Truth” controlling what can be said any more that I want a one party system controlled by Republicans.
Democrats used to support free speech, and young people did as well. Among young people in particular, that is no longer true. In a recent poll, some 60% of college males felt it was appropriate to use violence to prevent free speech that they disagreed with. That is entirely evil and entirely wrong. Blocking free speech is great…if you are the one who gets to choose what can be said, but not great at all if someone else does. How would you like it if Rush Limbaugh was the head of the “Ministry of Truth”, and he was the one that got to decide what is “true” and what can not be said? I don’t want him, or anyone else taking that role.
As a result, I totally agree with Republicans that the one-sided censorship from the likes of Twitter are abhorrent. I’m not sure the answer, though, since, as a private enterprise, they have a right to do it. Probably the best answer is simply to remove their protections from lawsuits, which they shouldn’t have anyway, and then let the free market solve it.
As far as whether more aid was needed in May, I think the answer is clear enough. The economy has posted strong numbers since then. Once you start a bonfire, you don’t keep pouring gasoline onto it. You let it burn until it slows, and then add a small amount of fuel as needed to keep it going. We are now approaching a point where it is certainly reasonable to talk about additional benefits, in particular about extended unemployment benefits. So, yes, I am worried about how that pig Pelosi conducts negotiations with Mitch McConnell. McConnell acted entirely correctly. No further action was needed at that time.
Resorting to violence for any reason less than self defense where your life is clearly being threatened is not only unacceptable but illegal. I do agree though that a one party system with no challengers is just as bad no matter who that party is. And the politically correct left is just as bad as the fascist right.
But, if the GOP goes away it will not be because the left “won” or crushed them, it will be because they always take everything to excess and one day they will go too far for even their own sheeple. That does not mean that the democrats will suddenly turn into a monolith of dictatorial power on the other side of the political spectrum, because their own evolution towards socialism is already too much for lifelong moderate centrist democrats like myself.
What I think will happen is that the GOP will fracture as will the democrats, the REASONABLE people from both parties will say look, we have not always been friends but what is going on in this country is crazy and doomed, it is suicidal. Those that are MODERATE and can talk and compromise to come up with a middle road we can all live with need to form a centrist party and leave the far left and far right to sit around and bitch an moan about the other side while the majority new centrist party actually rules the nation, and those that attempt to interfere with it should be given a choice between a lengthy prison sentence and permanent exile. If they are so unhappy (no matter what) then they really just need to leave.
I do not like AOC and people of her ilk on the left, but if my only other choice is Moscow Mitch and people of his ilk on the right guess which I will choose? It isn’t the chinless tortoise from Kentucky. But we do not have to settle for such an impoverished political landscape. We can build a new party that actually serves our needs and dwarves the other two.