‘Big, scary mess’: 12M could lose jobless aid on day after Christmas
The holidays aren’t looking bright for Jocelyn Fox, an unemployed single mother who is grappling with competing demands: teaching for her two housebound children while struggling to make ends meet. Her jobless aid expires soon.
“I can’t even think about holidays while unemployed. It’s a big, scary mess,” said Fox, 32. “I keep telling the kids to just be thankful we still have a house and can put food on the table.”
Fox, of Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, was laid off from her job as an inventory stocker at an auto-parts retailer in March. Since then, she’s struggled to find work.
Eviction moratoriums have been a lifesaver for her, she said. Though Fox, like millions of other Americans who face expiration of jobless benefits, doesn’t know how she’ll pay her bills or rent, which she is already behind on, when her aid ends in late December.
Millions of jobless Americans, like Fox, could suddenly be cut off from their unemployment benefits on the day after
Christmas if Congress fails to extend relief programs, with many facing lasting scars as the worst pandemic in a century threatens to deepen their economic pain.
About 12 million workers could lose one of two critical unemployment lifelines from the CARES Act on Dec. 26, including 7.3 million who could be cut off from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), and 4.6 million who may lose Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
Compensation (PEUC), according to estimates from The Century Foundation, a nonprofit think tank.
The loss in jobless aid would come as other stimulus relief is set to expire after December, including a federal ban on rental evictions that could put 30 million to 40 million people at risk of eviction as moratoriums expire, according to the Aspen Institute, another think tank.
Health experts are warning of a bleak winter. Without unemployment benefits and with savings badly depleted, American families will be at high risk for food insecurity and loss of their homes, and many may be unable to pay for health care during the pandemic, according to Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation.
“Unemployment benefits for many families are the last thin line between surviving a difficult situation and facing lasting financial disaster,” Stettner said. “If you get into a situation where you have no source of income in the middle of a pandemic, you’re going to drain your savings, postpone health care, not put food on the table or possibly lose your home.”
Cases are on the rise in all 50 states. The surge has led to the restriction of hours and capacity of businesses across the country, along with school closures in New York City.
In March, the CARES Act created two programs to help keep jobless workers afloat after the coronavirus pandemic battered the global economy and led to a historic wave of unemployment.
The first was a federally funded program called PUA, which provides jobless benefits to workers who typically aren’t covered under traditional unemployment, including the self-employed, independent contractors, temporary workers and gig workers. It had also included a $600 weekly supplement for jobless workers through late July.
Many out-of-work Americans have used up state unemployment aid, which typically expires after six months. Now they have transitioned to PEUC, a federal extended benefits program that lasts an additional 13 weeks.
About 7.3 million workers will see their PUA benefits expire on Dec. 26, and roughly 4.6 million workers will see their PEUC benefits expire then.