The expiration – and subsequent lack of renewal – of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program (FPUC) on July 31, 2020 meant that workers collecting unemployment compensation benefits were no longer provided an additional $600 per week of benefits. Based on the July insured claims data, unemployed workers in the South lost nearly $2.1 billion a week from the FPUC’s expiration. Black/African American workers in the South are experiencing a greater income loss from the FPUC expiration when compared to other workers in the region.
Without the FPUC program or other direct cash transfers to the unemployed the specter of mass evictions, bankruptcies, and increased poverty and food insecurity will grow unabated across the U.S. Read this report by Dr. Ali Bustamante to learn more about the effects of unemployment compensation benefit cuts in the South.