Arkansas to End Participation in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Program

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is pushing for Arkansas to become the first mid-south state to end its participation in federal pandemic unemployment programs. Hutchinson says the programs have outlived their usefulness and may be causing more harm than good. This program has provided an additional $300 in weekly unemployment payments to thousands of Arkansans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Although congress has extended these payments until September Hutchinson says continuing to make these payments to those filing is preventing people from seeking employment as 1 in 4 that apply take home more in unemployment then they did pre COVID through working. Last Friday’s jobs report found fewer people joined the workforce last month than economists had been expecting. Despite this President Biden says the economy still has fewer jobs than when the pandemic started – eluding to that being where the problem lies.