Here's What the Average Weekly Unemployment Benefit Will Look Like If the $600 Boost Isn't Extended
Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs since the world's COVID-19 pandemic became a U.S. crisis in March, and while the country's overall unemployment numbers fell in both May and June, the official unemployment rate is still at a painfully high 11.1% -- worse than it ever was during Great Recession. And as has been noted by Fortune, the Motley Fool, and other media outlets, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is probably undercounting the number of unemployed workers significantly due to several ongoing issues. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is in a new recession, and the country is in the midst of its worst surge of COVID-19 cases yet, setting daily records for new diagnoses.
It's therefore a particularly bad time for one of the government's more-effective emergency economic stimulus and human relief measures to run out. Yet come July 31, the $600 boost that the CARES Act initiated for weekly unemployment checks is set to end. And once that happens, many of those tens of millions of out-of-work Americans will start finding it a real struggle to cover even their basic bills.
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Source Fool.com