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Friday, July 17, 2020

Unemployed Americans Spent More With $600 Weekly Boost Than Before Pandemic; That's About To Go Away

At the end of this month, millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose their $600-per-week federal unemployment boost on top of their standard benefit. The program, part of the CARES Act, constituted a good portion of the $108.5 billion the US Treasury paid towards unemployment benefits in June.

And according to a new study released Thursday, Americans who received enhanced unemployment benefits spent roughly10% more than when they were working, according to Reuters. This of course makes sense, as some 63% of jobless workers making more on unemployment than when they were working.

Researchers analyzed transactions for 61,000 households that received unemployment benefits between March and May. Spending dropped for all households as the virus spread and led to business shutdowns, but then rose when households began receiving jobless benefits, the study found.

That contrasts with a typical recession, when households receiving unemployment benefits usually cut spending by 7% because regular jobless benefits amount to only a fraction of a person’s prior earnings, the research found. -Reuters

"Some folks are getting unemployment benefits that are larger than what they were getting paid [at] their previous jobs. That really potentially creates some wealth disincentive effects," said Harvard Economics professor Raj Chetty earlier this month at an event sponsored by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just goes to show no matter how much you give them, it's gone. Guessing not much was saved for a raining day. Then the hands will be out to pay their rent, give them free food and don't even get me started on the angel trees at Christmas when $60 video games are requested. It's nuts. Wait to the people busting their butt figure it out and they quit and sit home too. It's coming.

Anonymous said...

It's obvious.
Nobody is saying they are broke. Everybody has plenty of money.
It is by far the only 100% correct thing the Government has done to us.
The only drawback was that a large percentage of workers did not want to return to work and take a major cut in pay.
Watch the number of employed skyrocket about a week after July 31st!

Anonymous said...

THIS JUST IN people who couldn't pay their bills before paid their bills and bought food when they had money.

Anonymous said...

Yeah!!!!!!! Maybe then they will actually go back to work instead of saying no when they are called back! Essential workers didn't get any reward or extra money to risk our lives every single day so that you had health care, or groceries, or fast food!

Anonymous said...

while the elderly struggled the entire time as they continue to do the same

Anonymous said...

They don't need this extra money. They didn't work for it.

As a Senior my SSI never increased. WHY?

What is the difference?

We worked for our benefits.

Anonymous said...

"... the elderly struggled the entire time as they continue to do..."

Of course the elderly struggle. That's what they're for.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, some of my furloughed co-workers who received the extra money were sleeping in late, shopping online, having extra time for exercise and home projects. Those of us left at work had some of our hours cut, so we actually made less than normal and couldn't take any time off with pay during that period. We felt we were being taken advantage of and got nothing for being an "essential" worker. Plus their portion of health insurance premiums were paid by the company but it was still being deducted from our paychecks.

High Desert Dawg said...

People struggle with finances, due to THEIR OWN IRRESPONSIBILITY! 98% of the folks (young, old, blk, white, etc) that struggle is due to NOT saving, living WAY beyond their means, and NOT taking personal responsibility. For instance, if you got $600 twice a month that you (didn't earn) given to you for FREE, you should have saved it, but most Americans blow it on crap! If you're not making enough to fulfill your monthlhv expenses, then get a second job, and/or take time to learn s better paying trade, instead of sitting on your lazy asses complaining! Every American has the opportunity to be prosperous. Our success or failures are on US, not the government!

Anonymous said...

Quit paying people to sit home!

Anonymous said...

Being a senior citizen i can tell you we aren't pleased about seeing people getting 600 dollars free and we got $1200 once.
Problem is we are sick of Trump and don't want Biden. So folks I know are not going to vote.

Anonymous said...

Who is the highly paid budget genui that came up with this factoid?

HELLO McFly???

Anonymous said...

If you quit you can not claim unemployment genius. And the $600 extra won’t be available at the end of the month. Unemployment is generally insufficient to keep people afloat.