Some unemployment claimants to receive $1,200 stimulus checks

As many as 130,000 New Mexicans collecting unemployment benefits will see an extra $1,200 state stimulus in their payments during the week starting Monday (Dec. 14).

The state Department of Workforce Solutions announced Friday the payments would be made to people who qualified for jobless benefits Nov. 22-28 or Nov. 29-Dec. 5, as well as to claimants who exhausted their benefits between Sept. 12 and Nov. 5.

The Worker Pandemic Benefit is part of the $330 million economic relief package passed Nov. 24 by the Legislature to help residents and small-business owners who have been squeezed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money comes from the federal CARES Act that was distributed to states in spring,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a news release. "These are unprecedented times and my administration will continue to make every effort, every single day, to provide for New Mexicans. This additional funding is meaningful, and I'm grateful to the Legislature for their quick action in helping us get crucial aid out the door."

Three weeks after the governor signed the legislation, Workforce Solutions is distributing the $1,200 stimulus to qualifying claimants of jobless benefits.

"Governor Lujan Grisham's team, along with our department, has worked quickly to get the stimulus into New Mexicans' hands as fast as possible," Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill

McCamley said in a news release. "We will continue to urge Congress to come to an agreement on providing additional benefits."

Megan Paaske, who worked for Second Street Brewery for two years, has been unemployed off and on since March and is currently out of work.

"It's great to have a shred, a glimmer of reassurance at least for a couple weeks," she said. "For me, it's definitely helpful around the holidays. We are not doing gifts. It makes me nervous and unsure. It's a one-time stimulus and what's next?"

Greg Zavistovski, who was a waiter at Il Piatto, an Italian restaurant that closed in March, said he mostly wants to save the stimulus money.

“It helps pay the bills and maybe I'll have a spare dime to buy a gift for my fiancée," he said.

The $1,200 state stimulus provides a small cushion to help many jobless benefit claimants get ready for the scheduled Dec. 26 expiration of the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs unless Congress extends them. PUA offered unemployment benefits for the first time to the self-employed, contractors and gig workers. The unemployment compensation program offered 13-week extensions when regular jobless claims expire.

Santa Fe New Mexican, Taos

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