The relief bill required approval from Congress on Wednesday and President Joe Biden on Friday, which the President signed a day earlier, i.e., Thursday. As per the American Rescue Plan, the Americans will be provided with a second round of stimulus checks, and the rescue plan will also fund the Covid-19 response of the country. This time the rescue plan has two additional programs for federal unemployment that have supported the people who lost their jobs to the pandemic.
The two federal unemployment programs include:
1. The pandemic Unemployment Assistance program
This program is eligible for self-employed individuals. However, individuals who fail to qualify for other regular compensation programs can also take advantage of this program.
2. The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
This is a program with extended benefits up to 24 weeks for people who have exhausted regular unemployment compensation. This program is extended till the 6th of September.
As per the data, more than 20 million Americans still got their unemployment aid in the week ended February 20th. In May 2020, the unemployment benefits spiked the highest, with nearly 22 million Americans being aided. However, the number has fallen incredibly to only 4.81 million people. Around 13.84 million people are still expecting to get aid from either of the two unemployment programs mentioned above because most of them have already exhausted their regular unemployment insurances.
Infographic by: Statista.com
