Title: Expanded unemployment benefits may bump people from welfare, other aid
Headings: Expanded unemployment benefits could bump people from welfare, other assistance
Expanded unemployment benefits could bump people from welfare, other assistance
Key Points
Expanded unemployment benefits
Medicaid, food stamps and more

Content: Some aid recipients may be unaware of the potential interplay between expanded unemployment benefits and the social assistance they receive, especially since the one-time economic stimulus checks millions of Americans have received from the federal government don’t count as income toward these means-tested programs. However, the expanded unemployment benefits may count as income in some circumstances and some states have different rules, Wagner said. Expanded unemployment benefits
The CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion federal coronavirus relief law enacted in March, expanded unemployment benefits, namely by increasing weekly pay by $600, increasing benefit duration and expanding eligibility to the self-employed and other workers. Nearly 41 million Americans have applied for jobless benefits since mid-March. Unemployment levels in the U.S. are their worst since the Great Depression. The situation has hit lower-income households hardest. Nearly 40% of people with household income below $40,000 lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, according to a Federal Reserve report published earlier this month. That’s true for just 13% of Americans with income exceeding $100,000. VIDEO
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How unemployment benefits are calculated
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