When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan in March, extending pandemic-related unemployment aid until Labor Day, millions of Americans breathed a sigh of relief. Back then, almost 14 million people depended on the emergency programs. And while the labor market situation has improved significantly since then, the new cut-off date is fast approaching, leaving millions in doubt of what is possibly their only income.
Both the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which is available to individuals who are self-employed or who otherwise would not qualify for regular unemployment compensation, and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which extends benefits by up to 24 weeks for those who have exhausted regular unemployment aid, are due to expire on September 6.
According to data published by the U.S. Department of Labor this week, 11.7 million Americans still received unemployment benefits in the week ended July 31. And while the number of people receiving unemployment benefits through regular state programs has fallen to a pandemic low of 2.84 million, from a peak of more than 22 million in May 2020, more than 8 million Americans still rely on aid provided through either of the two aforementioned programs, as many who lost their job during the first wave of the pandemic have exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits or never qualified in the first place.
This chart shows the number of persons claiming unemployment benefits in the U.S. through all programs in the week ended July 31, 2021.
