Published on April 14, 2020
Washington’s overloaded unemployment system has been a vexation for many of the hundreds of thousands of newly jobless workers trying to file claims.
But those frustrations may be forgotten when the benefit checks start coming.
Thanks to an infusion of federal emergency funds, weekly unemployment benefits for many lower-income workers in Washington will equal — or even exceed — what they were earning before being laid off, according to the state Employment Security Department (ESD).
The extra $600 a week from the federal government will only last through July 25, according to the ESD, though it’s possible Congress could extend the program. After that, unemployed workers will receive just the state benefits, or equivalent federal benefits for workers who don’t qualify for state benefits.
What that means, says Jacob Vigdor, a University of Washington economist who studies labor markets at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, is that lower-wage workers receiving an extra-large benefit during the pandemic may end up using the additional money to live on next fall if the economy hasn’t fully recovered and they haven’t been able to find a job.
“The money isn’t going to make anybody rich,” Vigdor said. “It’s targeted at individuals who were in the most economically precarious positions at the start of the pandemic, and eases the worries about how they will pay the rent or feed their families for a few months.”
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Originally written by Paul Roberts for The Seattle Times.