12M Workers Set to Lose Unemployment Benefits

A new challenge is coming for American workers and businesses. The CARES Act included a expiration date of December 26 for federal funding of pandemic unemployment assistance and pandemic emergency unemployment compensation. With this funding set to expire before the end of the year, 12 million workers could be left without financial support in the middle of the ongoing pandemic.

It isn’t only the federal expiration of unemployment benefits. State benefits are also coming to an end for many workers. Most benefits max out at 26 weeks, a date approaching for workers that have experienced unemployment since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent report from The Century Foundation, 3 million workers already ran out of state jobless benefits in September, and based on these trends, more than 4 million more workers likely ran out by the end of October. As of October, the share of unemployed that have been out of work for more than 26 weeks increased from 19.1% to 32.5%.

The report predicts that 7.3 workers will lose PUA benefits on December 26 and another 945,000 will lose these benefits before December. In addition, another 4.6 million workers PEUC benefits on December 26 in addition to the 3.5 million workers that have lost unemployment benefits earlier. This means that in total, 16 million workers have already lost CARES Act benefits this year and another 12 million more will lose their benefits by the end of the year.

While there have been glimmers of economic recovery in the last few months, the economy is still down 10 million jobs. New surges in the virus will only exacerbate these issues and drive longer lockdowns and job losses. At the moment, there are not enough jobs being created to offset or make-up for the jobs lost. According to a report from Marcus & Millichap, job gains in October totaled 638,000, below the 672,000 jobs added in September. However, the report also highlights the recent outbreaks give reason for new concern, especially as businesses focus on balance sheet stability over new hiring.

Like the Century Foundation report, Marcus & Millichap also notes the need for more action from Congress, saying that additional stimulus is necessary to help promote job growth next year. It adds that a split government, or a least one lacking a significant majority, will hinder progress on more stimulus plans and restrict Joe Biden from perusing his coronavirus agenda. However, the firm does expect a bipartisan effort for small-business stimulus and additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.