On Friday July 31, 2020 the $600-a-week unemployment benefits paid to those out of work due to coronavirus layoffs and furloughs will expire.
The expiration of these additional benefits could bring crush financial pressure on many who have used money to keep their families and lives afloat in the face of an unprecedented economic crash.
The additional weekly payments put as much as $180 million dollars in the hands of the unemployed.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate the effects will mean slashed budgets, unpaid bills and falling behind on rent and mortgage payments.
And while an aid package is moving through Congress, whether that money arrives in time to head off penury for many remains to be seen.
Many lawmakers have indicated a second stimulus check could be coming in August, week benefit payments may reappear, but nowhere near the $600-a-week amount.
“If you don’t have the funds, you can’t buy goods and services. If you can’t buy goods and services, businesses will not survive,” Alden McDonald, the longtime president of Liberty Bank in New Orleans told the paper. “You’re going to have a lot of people who are not going to be able to pay their rent, you’re going to have some individuals that perhaps will not have a way of paying their mortgage. All of that is just going to cause a further collapse of the economy.”
While many in the workforce applauded the benefits, many business owners criticized the program for making unemployment more profitable than work.
