“There are some states where it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time, allowing residents of those states more time to find a job in areas where unemployment remains high,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh told congressional leaders in a letter.
“The Delta variant may also pose short-term challenges to local economies and labor markets,” they added.
Extra federal unemployment benefits will expire as planned on Sept. 6, they said. But states can tap funds from a law enacted in March called the American Rescue Plan, they told the heads of the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
COVID-19 deaths in the United States reached a five-month high this week, with cases most prevalent in the U.S. South as the highly contagious Delta variant continued to spread, according to a Reuters tally https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps.
Surging infections have threatened to upend the nation’s battle with the pandemic as well as its economic recovery.
Still, data released on Thursday showed U.S. weekly jobless claims hit a 17-month low as the ranks of the unemployed continued to shrink despite threats from rising COVID-19 cases.
Source: Economy - investing.com
