Personal Finance
80 Percent Of RI Unemployment Recipients Lost Benefits This Week
More than 45,000 Rhode Islanders received unemployment insurance through the federal pandemic relief program, which ended Sept. 4.
CRANSTON, RI — Labor Day weekend traditionally is a celebration of workers and the labor movement. But this year, it marked the end of extended unemployment benefits in Rhode Island and around the country. With the end of the federal program, just 20 percent of Rhode Island residents who were receiving benefits are still eligible to do so, according to the Department of Labor and Training.
Nationally, about 7.5 million people lost benefits, according to The Century Foundation. Here in Rhode Island, more than 45,000 people — which represents 80 percent of unemployment claimants — are in that category, meaning they no longer qualify to receive payments. The remaining 20 percent will still receive payments, without the additional $300 per week bonus from the federal program.
The expanded unemployment benefits provided by the federal pandemic relief program included offering payments to those who are not usually eligible, including contract workers, small business owners and people who were unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program also extended benefits past the usual 26-week threshold and added the weekly $300 bonus.
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Gov. Dan McKee said Tuesday that by not ending the program early as other states did, Rhode Islanders received $350 million in federal aid over the past few months.
Rhode Island's unemployment numbers have seen some recent improvement. In July, the state's unemployment rate was 5.8 percent, down by one-tenth of a percentage point from June. The same time last year, Rhode Island's unemployment rate was 14 percent.
Find out what's happening in Cranstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos encouraged unemployed Rhode Islanders to use job-finding resources such as BacktoWorkRI and EmployRI to help in their job search, saying that there are many positions available.
According to the DLT, July saw the highest monthly gain of non-farm jobs in the state since August 2020, increasing by 7,200 from the previous month. Since the beginning of 2021, Rhode Island has added 3,000 jobs per month, on average.
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