Press Release

The State of the Lost Wages Assistance Program

Last month President Trump signed an executive order creating the Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) supplement, a grant program to states providing $300 a week in additional unemployment compensation to individuals. This new program has been implemented in almost all states with varying degrees of success, write AAF’s Labor Market Policy Data Analyst Isabel Soto and Isabella Hindley, although it took time to roll out due to outdated systems and new eligibility requirements. States that were the earliest beneficiaries of the LWA program have already seen the $300 supplements end, they note.

An excerpt:

Since its creation on August 8, the LWA program has been providing funding to nearly all states to supplement unemployment compensation. All states (and Washington, DC) that have applied have been approved to receive funding; South Dakota is the only state that has chosen not to request funding. With this program’s funding running out in the next few weeks, the focus returns to negotiations for legislation providing supplemental unemployment compensation.

Read the analysis. 

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