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A large number of Americans will lose their unemployment benefits after less than one month. The US Congress put the package in place in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The left-leaning Century Foundation published a new report. It found that 7.5 million workers will experience the loss of jobless aid on Labor Day, on 6^th September. Sep. 6 is the official cut-off date for 3 relief programs and first launched in March 2020 and Congress renewed it twice by Congress. It was the time when the virus forced an unprecedented shutdown of the nation’s economy and pushed unemployment to the highest level. The programs offered aid to workers who were not typically eligible and extended state unemployment benefits once they had been finished.

The programs were providing workers with an extra $300 a week on top of their regular state benefits. Most of the companies have complained about a lack of available workers after the reopening of the economic wheel. There are still 5.5 million unemployed Americans, in spite of the astonishing 9.2 million open jobs. 23 US States have already ended the unemployment programs, designed to support businesses that are experiencing issues to hire workers. However, a federal judge ordered to restore of the relief programs in Maryland, Indiana, and Arkansas. Experts believe a lack of child care and other factors are the reasons for lackluster hiring. They said that opting out of the relief program will hurt unemployed Americans and leave them with no income while searching for a new job.

A senior fellow at the Century Foundation, Andrew Stettner said, “The end of the pandemic unemployment benefits will be an abrupt jolt to millions of Americans who won’t find a job in time for this arbitrary end to assistance, with the US economy still short 6.5 million jobs as of the end of June 2021”. It appears to be little momentum on Capitol Hill to extend the unemployment relief programs. The rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant has prompted states to restore mask mandates and businesses to reverse return-to-work policies. The White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “The Biden administration hasn’t yet decided whether the extra benefits should expire in September. There hasn’t been any decision about this at this point”.