$600 weekly unemployment federal check runs out at end of July

While Dylan Altemara finishes his master’s degree in human resources and looks for a job, the $600 unemployment weekly benefit boost from the federal government has been a lifesaver.

“The additional stimulus money makes everybody whole,” Altemara, 27, of Belle Vernon said of the check he receives under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program. “I think it is a big benefit to most (unemployed) people.”

Altemara, a California University of Pennsylvania graduate assistant, lost his job in mid-March because of the the covid-19 shutdowns. Like hundreds of thousands of other unemployed Pennsylvanians, he will lose that extra aid by the end of July. The government will no longer accept claims for that weekly benefit after the week ending July 25, unless Congress and President Trump agree to extend the program.

He said he qualified for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance because he lost his job as a substitute teacher at Bethlehem-Center School District when the school closed in mid-March, as ordered by the governor.

The state is still calculating the number of Pennsylvanians who are receiving the $600 weekly benefit from the CARES Act funding approved by Congress, said Susan Dickinson, director of Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Benefits Policy. Pennsylvania has distributed $10.6 billion to jobless workers through the $600 weekly checks since mid-March, Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said.

The state is anticipating fewer Pennsylvanians are getting the $600 check because the unemployment rate dropped from 16.1% in April to 13.1% in May, as businesses started to reopen. The number of jobless workers in the state shrank from 1 million in April to about 850,000 in May. The state’s jobless rate for June will be released July 17.

Although the jobless will not get the $600 check for being unemployed in August, the Labor & Industry department can process claims after July 25, so final payments may not be delivered until August. Despite the publicity about the federal program ending, “it’s always taken some people by surprise,” Dickinson said.

Whether Congress will extend the aid program remains unknown. The Democratic-controlled House in May passed the HEROES Act, which would have extended the benefit for another six months as part of a $3 trillion economic rescue package for state and local governments. The Republican-controlled Senate has yet to tackle the bill.

In June, the nation’s economy created 4.3 million jobs.

Barney Oursler, director of the Homestead-based nonprofit Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, can’t see how Congress can ignore the needs of the jobless at a time when the pandemic has crushed the economy. His group is working with people who have not received state unemployment compensation since losing their jobs in March and April, Oursler said.

“These are punishing political decisions. (Some lawmakers) are of the mindset that these people will not go back to work” if the pandemic assistance is extended, Oursler said.

The $600 check gives unemployed workers the money to buy what they need to survive, he said, particularly those in the restaurant business who rely on tips.

“It’s what is keeping these people going,” Oursler said.