BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont leaders are bracing for thousands to lose their unemployment benefits as another stimulus package from Congress remains up in the air.
Burlington-based artist David Cooper wears two hats. One as the manager of the afro-pop band A2VT and another as a performing musician in a ’60s tribute band called Mellow Yellow. Every other year, he and his band would have taken to the high seas, performing on a cruise ship. But 2020 had other ideas.
“After rehearsing for months, we got the axe and it was really disappointing, to say the least,” Cooper said.
Cooper is one of some 8,000 Vermonters in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) which provides unemployment benefits to people who do not pay into the system like the self-employed and gig workers. These Vermonters work in all kinds of industries, from carpentry, arts, hospitality and others. Without a new stimulus package from Congress, his benefits are set to expire at the end of December.
“It’s been quite critical to make up for that lost income,” Cooper said. “Not just for the big gigs but also the smaller ones from the summer and into the fall.”
Additionally, there are also some 12,000 Vermonters on extended benefits, part of the Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program who are slated to lose benefits. That program funded by the CARES Act which added 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits on top of the regular 26 weeks.
“It’s frustrating because it’s not like we didn’t see this coming,” Vermont Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington said.
State leaders are concerned about the looming influx of people filing for unemployment. Vermont’s unemployment trust fund is still healthy with some $250 million, but Harrington also said federal rules prevent the state from continuing to pay people who don’t normally qualify, such as Cooper.
Expecting a big influx of need for resources in the coming weeks, the Labor Department is also training its staff to connect Vermonters with parts of the state’s social safety net.
“The knowledge and work we’re doing with claimants to let them know that there are other support systems out there, whether it’s food and fuel assistance, housing and a number of other programs,” Harrington said.
Harrington also said that if Congress does pass another package, he’s hoping they make it easy for claimants to apply and easy for the Department of Labor to roll out benefits as quickly as possible.
Unemployment benefits from the feds are just one of a constellation of programs that have been pumping money into Vermonters’ pockets through Paycheck Protection Program loans, small business grants and other forms of stimulus. These 20,000 losing their main cash benefit will not only hurt families directly but will also have a trickle-down effect on the economy.
“There’s going to be less spending and so businesses that are already having a hard time are going to have a harder time,” said Art Woolf, an economist at UVM.
And less spending means less consumption taxes and more of a strain on education and property taxes.
“Even if you’re not a homeowner and if your landlord has an increase on their property taxes, they’re going to pass it along as increased rent,” Woolf said.
But as Cooper and thousands of others hold their breath for Congress to act, he says he’s hoping for the best and is using the time to create new music.
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Vt. braces for thousands losing unemployment benefits - WCAX
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