They may not be terminating pandemic unemployment benefits like their GOP peers, but Democratic governors are also prodding Americans to go back to work amid a surging number of job openings. And so is President Joe Biden.
More than a dozen Democrat-led states have reinstituted work search requirements, many of them in the past few weeks, according to data compiled by ZipRecruiter, a job posting site. And they are telling the jobless that they risk losing their benefits if they don’t comply or accept suitable offers.
At least two blue states — Connecticut and Colorado — are also offering return-to-work bonuses for residents collecting unemployment benefits.
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Unemployment benefits are generally just 26 weeks compensation based upon the amount of the individual quarters’ earnings. The other programs were funded by Congress to specifically address the economic impact of COVID. The work search requirement was suspended by States because of COVID. Re-instating this requirement only applies to those collecting the original 26 weeks. For most, that has long been exhausted. Maryland manages the distribution of the Federally funded programs to residents of other states as well as Maryland. Maryland feels that they are out of the woods regarding COVID and they want to stop distributing the Federal programs in July. Delaware has not reached the same COVID recovery level and they have not announced any change to what the Federal government gives them to distribute.
Can Maryland really stop the benefits that have been targeted at Delaware residents?