Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Will cutting federal unemployment benefits push job growth?

Four states have now shut off the extra $300 per week in federal unemployment benefits.

Download
Will cutting federal unemployment benefits push job growth?
courtneyk via Getty Images

In some states, this is the first week people out of work can’t collect the extra $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits. The benefits expired in Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi and Missouri on Saturday. Will this drive more applicants to jobs that have remained unfilled?

“There’s definitely a worker out there who’s like, ‘These benefits are great, my job was terrible, I’m going to ride this as far as I can.’ But there’s also definitely a person out there who has filed 500 job applications and can’t find a job,” said Kathryn Anne Edwards, a labor economist at the Rand Corp.

There are also people without child care, those who are unvaccinated because of health conditions and those who can’t find jobs that match their skills.

“Unemployment insurance was designed with that in mind,” Edwards said.

Getting workers in the right jobs, those that they’ll stay in, is better for them and for the economy. And, in most industries, “there are still more unemployed people than there are job openings,” said David Cooper with the Economic Policy Institute. One exception is leisure and hospitality, where businesses are struggling to hire. But he says that’s to be expected in a low-wage industry that’s seeing a surge in demand.

“Even in the best of circumstances, it’s going to take time for employers to staff up,” Cooper said.

Expiring unemployment benefits aside, we’ll see job growth as the economy continues to reopen, he said.

Related Topics

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    23 minutes ago
    6:47
  • Marketplace Tech
    an hour ago
    4:17
  • Marketplace
    13 hours ago
    25:29
  • How We Survive
    16 hours ago
    14:10
  • Make Me Smart
    19 hours ago
    25:13
  • Million Bazillion
    19 hours ago
    31:13
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    2 months ago
    37:19
  • Financially Inclined
    2 months ago
    12:30
  • The Uncertain Hour
    4 months ago
    22:50
  • Corner Office from Marketplace
    5 years ago
    20:58