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$300 Unemployment Benefits Ending Early?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling on Congress to cancel the extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits, citing worker shortages.
Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said in a statement Friday, “The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market.”
They continued, “Based on the Chamber’s analysis, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients taking home more in unemployment than they earned working.”
The Chamber’s support for canceling benefits comes after South Carolina and Montana announced plans this week to eliminate their federal jobless benefits starting next month.
The U.S. economy added much fewer jobs than they had anticipated for April, with employers increasing their payrolls by 266,000 jobs, well below the 1 million that economists had expected.
The economy is still 8.2 million jobs short of February 2020 levels.
Hopefully, this new jobs report acted as a wake-up call for Congress to start planning for new ways to get our economy going again.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Friday signed 15 bills, including measures that will help upgrade Florida’s unemployment system.