Title: The $300 extra in weekly unemployment benefits is a win-win for the economy and jobless Americans, some experts say - MarketWatch
Headings: The $300 extra in weekly unemployment benefits is a win-win for the economy and jobless Americans, some experts say
The $300 extra in weekly unemployment benefits is a win-win for the economy and jobless Americans, some experts say
Elisabeth Buchwald
Had lawmakers not extended unemployment benefits, some 4.8 million Americans would have fallen into poverty, according to one estimate.
Unlike the $600 add-on weekly unemployment benefit, Americans are likely to spend the entire $300 add-on unemployment benefit, one economist said.
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When will jobless Americans receive the extra $300?
There’s another major complication for gig workers
The $300 benefit will ‘have a much better bang for the dollar’ than the $600 add-on
Millions of Americans were surviving on below minimum wage benefits
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That could prove to be problematic for state workforce agencies that “currently have no system for accepting 1099s or reviewing them,” Pancotti added. The $300 benefit will ‘have a much better bang for the dollar’ than the $600 add-on
With the $300 add-on unemployment benefit, on average, jobless Americans will receive the same amount they earned from working, according to research published by three University of Chicago economists. The $300 benefit will “have a much better bang for the dollar,” compared to the $600 in extra weekly benefits that expired in July, said Marc Goldwein, a senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.
In the case of the $600, people were more likely to save a chunk of the money they received as opposed to spending it on goods and services. But with the $300 benefit, Americans are more likely to spend all of it, which will help support existing jobs in the economy, Goldwein said. Some jobless Americans previously received $300 in enhanced unemployment benefits in August after the $600 per week CARES Act benefit expired at the end of July, a result of executive action by President Donald Trump. The program, known as the Lost Wage Assistance program, paid out the $300 benefit for six weeks in most states. Advertisement
“After the expiration of the $600 supplement unemployment benefits in August, families receiving unemployment benefits sharply cut spending,” said Fiona Greig, co-president of the JPMorgan Chase Institute JPM, +1.31%. “ It is likely that we will see a boost to spending from additional relief. How big that boost will be is unclear.” Many retailers across the country hoped that a second stimulus package would come to fruition before the tail end of the holiday shopping season, effectively enabling consumers to spend more money.