Title: Extra $600 in unemployment benefits ends in days. It could prove "disastrous" - CBS News
Headings: Extra $600 in jobless benefits ends in days. It could prove "disastrous."
Extra $600 in jobless benefits ends in days. It could prove "disastrous."
"Who is going to spend money?"
Weeks without extra benefits?
"The labor market is a mess"

Content: That's because states will need to reprogram their computers to input the new dates for the extra pay, a significant obstacle given that many rely on outdated computer systems. The gap in benefits could last as long as four weeks if the extra payments expire this month and then are reinstated by Congress, according to Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. It's unclear whether Congress would include a provision to pay workers retroactively for the missed weeks of pay. COVID-19's impact on Latino communities 01:51
Among those urging lawmakers to extend the extra $600 in benefits are former Federal Reserve chiefs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen. In a Congressional hearing on Friday, Yellen said it would be "a catastrophe" if the benefit wasn't extended, while Bernanke pointed out that the pay helps the overall economy. "The other purpose of the unemployment insurance is to increase aggregate demand," he said. " People will go out and spend and that will help the economy generally." "The labor market is a mess"
The notion that the extra jobless aid provides a disincentive to return to work has been met by skepticism from some economists, including Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. His group has looked at the relationship between unemployment aid and the nation's jobless rate, and hasn't found a connection that suggests many workers are snubbing work to remain on the dole. That's likely due to two factors: