JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday announced the state is cutting off all federal pandemic unemployment benefits in an attempt to push people back to work.
Parson said those extra federal benefits will end for Missourians June 12.
Roughly 53,500 Missourians received extra weeks of unemployment aid thanks to federal aid in the last week of April, the latest available data.
Another 37,000 people who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for regular unemployment help also claimed aid, according to a state labor department spokeswoman. That includes independent contractors, farm workers and people who are self-employed.
Parson said business owners in Missouri are struggling to fill jobs as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Parson said he hopes cutting the federal aid will push people back to work and address labor shortages.
“Continuing these programs only worsens the workforce issues we’re currently facing,” the Republican governor told reporters Tuesday. “It’s time that we end these programs that have incentivized people to stay out of the workforce.”
Missouri’s unemployment rate hit 4.2% in March, down from 4.3% in February.
Missouri is the latest of several states – Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana and South Carolina – ending the $300 federal benefit that is on top of state benefits.
Labor experts say the shortage is not just about the $300 payment. Some unemployed people also have been reluctant to look for work because they fear catching the virus. Others have found new occupations rather than return to their old jobs. And many women, especially working mothers, have had to leave the workforce to care for children.
Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature has also considered cutting how long people can receive state unemployment help as a means to force people back to work, but those proposals have stalled.
Lawmakers have until Friday to send bills to Parson.
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