Congress is facing a deadline to extend unemployment benefits for people out of work due to the pandemic. Those payments have made a big impact in Florida.
Florida’s started 2020 with unemployment at near-record lows. Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Forecasting at the University of Central Florida, says it will take at least three years for the state’s economy to recover. He says additional unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program stopped a bad situation from becoming much worse.
“Hopefully whatever the final version of the second round looks like it's, it will be more streamlined and targeted to the people and the businesses that are most impacted by COVID-19,” he said.
Floridians who lost their jobs due to the pandemic were able to collect an additional $600 per week from the federal government. But the state’s unemployment application system broke down due to the surge in new filings.
