South Carolina cuts federal unemployment boost from weekly payments [View all]
COLUMBIA — South Carolina will leave the federal unemployment programs providing extra money to jobless residents in light of “unprecedented” workforce shortages across the state, Gov. Henry McMaster announced on Thursday.
The state will opt out of the coronavirus pandemic assistance programs beginning June 30. The federal benefits include an extra weekly $300 to unemployed workers that was scheduled to run through early September.
The labor shortage has affected all areas of the state’s economy, state government officials said, with the hotel and food service industries especially hard-hit. McMaster claimed the shortage was created in large part due to the supplemental federal payments.
“In many instances, these payments are greater than the worker’s previous pay checks,” McMaster said in a statement. “What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace.”
Read more: https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/south-carolina-cuts-federal-unemployment-boost-from-weekly-payments/
(Pittsburgh Tribune Review)
= new reply since forum marked as read