Federal unemployment programs will end the day after Christmas holiday in Kansas
Unemployed Kansans receiving benefits through two federally-funded CARES Act programs will lose the unemployment aid the day after the Christmas holiday, as many workers continue to struggle with joblessness and personal finances in the Wichita area.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, or PUA, offers benefits to workers who are not traditionally covered by unemployment. This includes people who are self-employed, contract workers or so-called “gig” workers. The benefits last for a maximum of 39 weeks. Past then, the contract workers are not eligible for other unemployment programs.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC, offers an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits after workers exhaust traditional benefits in Kansas. Both PUA and PEUC are federal CARES Act programs.
Unless Congress acts to pass another relief bill with similar benefits, both programs will expire in Kansas after Dec. 26.
“I am hopeful that Congress will act quickly to pass legislation that extends these important federal programs that so many have come to count on,” Acting Secretary of Labor Ryan Wright said in a statement. “States only administer these programs and we cannot extend them.”
Any weekly benefit payment that the state labor department approved, but has not yet paid, should still be paid out even when the federal programs end, according to Kansas Department of Labor. The same applies to people awaiting review of their claim.
Although hopeful, Wright criticized Congress for ending the existing unemployment programs immediately after the holiday.
“Terminating these programs during the middle of a pandemic, the day after Christmas, when thousands of people remain unemployed is unconscionable,” Wright said. “These programs have helped people buy groceries, pay rent or make utility payments while they look for employment opportunities or help care for their families during the global crisis.”
The Kansas Department of Labor encouraged residents to reach out to their representatives in Congress with any concerns about the programs ending.
Additionally, an Extended Benefits program will end in Kansas this week. Previously triggered by high unemployment in the state, that program extended unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks. It was triggered off as the state’s unemployment rate continued to drop from its April high.
In October, the most recent month available, the unemployment rate in Kansas was 5.3%, down from 5.9% in September and 6.9% in August.
In Sedgwick County, the October unemployment rate was 7.2%, the highest in the state. The Wichita area has continually seen some of the highest unemployment throughout Kansas during the pandemic.
The state’s unemployment rate has steadily fallen each month after its high of 11.9% in April as the pandemic took hold. However, the number of workers in the labor force also declined in September, the state labor department said previously, which would lower the overall rate.
Since March 15, the labor agency in Kansas has paid out more than 3.2 million weekly claims totaling over $2.3 billion between regular unemployment and the federal pandemic programs.
For more information or to apply for unemployment benefits, visit www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.
