Amid a disappointing jobs report, at least 13 states with Republican governors have announced plans to stop participating in the federal government’s $300 a week supplemental unemployment insurance.
However, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki argues that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, not the jobless benefits, is why Americans are not returning to their jobs.
“We know there have been a lot of talking points and chatter out there suggesting that reducing benefit, $300 a week in most cases … would incentive them to go back to work,” Psaki said during a press briefing on Thursday.
She continued, “And frankly, we find that to be a bit off track. Because what we’ve seen in the data is that the actual issues at play here are the pandemic, and people needing to address things like child care, being fearful about going back to work before they were not vaccinated.”
“So states, governors are going to make their own decisions, but I think it’s important to convey, I think, that when you look at the data, when you look at the facts, we have not seen that as a widespread driving factor in people going back to work,” she added.
Watch the video below:
.@PressSec Psaki: “We know there have been a lot of talking points and chatter out there suggesting that reducing benefits […] to people across the country would incentivize them to go back to work and frankly we find that to be a bit off track.” pic.twitter.com/PmKY4UAsE2
— The Hill (@thehill) May 13, 2021
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that 266,000 jobs were added in April, far fewer than the expected 1 million jobs. Additionally, it revised March’s job numbers down from 916,000 to 770,000.
While there were fewer jobs added than expected, a March survey from the National Federation of Independent Business found that 42% of business owners had openings that they could not fill.
In light of the April jobs report, several Republican governors announced plans to stop participating in the enhanced federal employment benefits.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said in announcing the move, “The $300 federal supplement helped thousands of Arkansans make it through this tough time, so it served a good purpose. Now we need Arkansans back on the job so that we can get our economy back to full speed.”
While requirements that those collecting unemployment benefits must be looking for work were relaxed last year, President Joe Biden said on Monday that would start to change.
“We’re going to make it clear that anyone who is collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefit,” he said during remarks at the White House.