Clock ticking on jobless benefits

Congress tussles over ending aid and what to do next — if anything

As Americans were losing their jobs in record-breaking numbers, lawmakers in late March boosted unemployment checks by $600 a week to help tens of millions of newly unemployed workers get by.

But with new jobless claims still at historic highs, a question looms: What happens when the $600 weekly benefit expires after July?

Congress is struggling over whether to end the $600 benefit — and potentially leave millions of households with too little income — or to extend it into 2021, which some conservatives say could encourage workers to remain unemployed and hamper the recovery.

The unemployment crisis isn't as acute as it was when Congress passed the CARES Act, which included the extra payments.

In Texas, job losses have slowed as businesses have been allowed to reopen. Federal programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program also have helped prevent layoffs.

Yet new unemployment claims have remained persistently high nearly three months after the onset of the pandemic.

In Bexar County, more than 140,000 workers have filed a jobless claim since mid-March. During the first week of June, another 5,400 workers in the county sought unemployment. Last year, only about 700 jobless claims were filed, on average, each week in Bexar County.

But in May, there were some indications jobs were returning and unemployment in Texas had peaked.

“Definitely, initial unemployment claims are still high, but the number of people declaring themselves unemployed has declined,” said Luis Torres, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. “At least we're stopping the bleeding.”

The center's

Texas

Weekly

Leading Indicator, which projects when the economy will recover, signaled optimism last week after applications for new businesses increased, the price of oil rose and new unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level since the economy cratered in March, Torres said.

Still, economists widely expect that the U.S. unemployment rate at the end 2020 will hover between 8 and 9 percent — more than double its level at the beginning of this year.

“By the end of

the

year, we