The number of unemployment-benefit recipients is falling at a faster rate in Missouri and 21 others states canceling enhanced and extended payments this month, suggesting that ending the aid could push more people to take jobs.
Federal pandemic aid bills boosted unemployment payments by $300 a person each week and extended those payments for as long as 18 months, well longer than the typical 26 weeks or less. The benefits are set to expire in early September, but states can opt out before then.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said the benefits were helpful during the height of the pandemic, but their continuation has “worsened the workforce issues we are facing.”
He, like many other Republican governors, moved to end the federally funded benefits to address businesses’ concerns about a labor shortage. The state’s unemployment rate was 4.2% in May, well below the national average of 5.8%, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Missouri cut off payments as of June 12, joining three other states as the first to do so. Seven states followed with an end on June 19, and this weekend, benefits are expiring in 10 more states. Four more states will curtail benefits by July 10.
