The emergency federal jobless benefits of $300 per week was a key provision of the CARES Act passed in March 2020 and was extended by Congress in subsequent legislation. Those benefits are slated to end on Labor Day, coming weeks after a federal eviction moratorium expired.
The Sept. 6 expiration date was part of a congressional deal made earlier this year to extend the federal jobless aid. Also earlier this year, about two dozen Republican-led states moved to end the expanded unemployment benefits early and argued that the program creates a disincentive for Americans from joining the workforce.
Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made similar statements last month, arguing the U.S. labor force is ready for the benefits to end.
“Overall the economy is moving forward and recovering,” Walsh told AP in a separate interview. “I think the American economy and the American worker are in a better position going into Labor Day 2021 than they were on Labor Day 2020.”
Left-leaning lawmakers in the Democratic Party are now urging the Biden administration to revive the pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
"We need to extend the expanded UI for millions of unemployed workers because this crisis isn't over. People are not only dealing with COVID surges; they're dealing with impacts of climate change, from extreme flooding in my district to heat waves and fires in the West," Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of the leftist "Squad," said in a statement to news outlets over the weekend.
According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Sept. 3, 235,000 jobs were created in August, representing a dramatic decline from the 1.1 million jobs created in July and below experts' predictions of 733,000 jobs.
The COVID-19 Delta variant was flagged as the main reason why fewer jobs were added to the economy last month, said President Joe Biden after the numbers were released by the agency.
The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.