Press Release

Revisiting Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Under the Biden Administration

As a part of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, President Biden has proposed increasing the federal unemployment supplement to $400 a week from $300. In new research, AAF’s Director of Labor Market Policy Isabel Soto calculates the percent of workers in each state who could make more on unemployment than working.

Her central points:

  • Nationally, based on a weighted average of all states, 37 percent of workers could make more on unemployment under a $300 federal benefit than at work, and 50 percent of workers would make more on unemployment under a $400 federal benefit; and
  • Increasing the weekly federal supplement will affect each state differently, with one seeing only 25 percent of workers who could make more on unemployment under the change and another seeing nearly 70 percent of workers who could make more on unemployment.

Read the research.

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