46 million Americans have filed for unemployment in 2020 as a result of the current pandemic.

In April 2020, the United States saw its highest unemployment rate, at 14.9 percent, since 1933’s Great Depression. 46 million Americans lost their jobs and were forced to file unemployment claims after closures of workplaces were deemed necessary by government officials in response to Covid-19. Since mid-March, 2.7 million, a staggering 13 percent of its population, filed for unemployment in Texas. In hopes of preventing what would have been a devastating economic crisis, federal representatives created a relief package to aid states in taking care of its citizens. Now, states like Texas are demanding that 46,000 unemployment claimants give back any overpaid money they received.

Yes. You read that right.

Texas overpaid its citizens by $32 Million.

I hate to break it to you Texas, but that sounds like a YOU problem. It’s one thing to demand a refund of money given if the unemployment claimant falsified claim information, it’s another thing to request overpaid money from someone who, now dependent on the government, had no idea they were receiving any extra cash. One could however, argue that between the $600 per week given as a result of the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation passed under the CARES Act, in addition to regular benefits received, many Americans were and still are receiving well over their normal paycheck. This may be true, but for many others, unemployment benefits do not match their normal paycheck. Even so, stay at home mandates and closures of stores, parks, gyms and schools lead to unplanned spending!

A pack of 50 face masks cost $30 on Amazon compared to the normal $8. School closures obligated parents to stock up on school supplies, have food for lunch in the house, buy art, music and outside activity supplies. As many employers have lost the ability to provide health insurance for unemployed workers, a quick trip to the Emergency room will cost you an arm and a leg.

This is not to say that it doesn’t suck for Texas that they overpaid on benefits, but, it’s also not most of those claimants faults. Chances are, any extra money is long gone and to expect people to come up with money they never knew they would owe back…is rude, quite frankly! Doing so also defeats the purpose of unemployment benefits in the first place, which is to help keep afloat those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

In an update to our previous story on the next piece of proposed stimulus legislation, the White House is looking at options for a return-to-work bonus, making clear their preference for incentivizing reopening the economy rather than extending unemployment benefits for the time being.

CNBC reports that the Trump administration has, according to Larry Kudlow, voiced their disapproval of the proposed extension of the extra $600 per week for families on unemployment, opting instead for a smaller temporary weekly sum for people returning to work.

To recap, the current bonus of $600 per week for those on unemployment is scheduled to expire after July 31st, but the HEROES Act from House Democrats proposed extending it through the end of the year; the notion attracted criticism for several reasons, the most notable of which included waning unemployment numbers and some viewing the idea as an incentive to continue collecting unemployment rather than actually stimulating the economy.

An ancillary proposition to decrease the amount of extra aid per week incrementally as unemployment numbers fall was mentioned, but the Trump administration appears to stand firm on their counterproposal involving the aforementioned return-to-work bonus.

It’s not unreasonable for this administration to want to incentivize those who are reluctant to return to work, especially when unemployment numbers in the last few months have been the highest since the Great Depression; in any event, it seems that, whether or not the HEROES Act passes, folks on unemployment will most likely stop receiving that extra $600 per week at the end of this July.

We recognize that a little over a month isn’t a supremely generous amount of time with which to prepare for a sharp cut in income, and there are only a few things you can actively do to ensure that you’re adequately prepared for the proposed incentive.

Firstly, if you’re furloughed for now, there isn’t much you can do other than wait for your place of occupation to open; however, if you were laid off, actively seeking a job opening in your field–or any field, at this point–will be enough for you to qualify for the bonus.

More importantly, however, is that you start looking at how the lack of funding will impact you in the short-term. Remember, 63 percent of Americans on unemployment were actually making more money with the bonus $600 per week than they were while working, so while the impact of losing that bonus come August won’t be negligible, hopefully unemployment is enough to cover the necessities.

Unfortunately, aside from “go back to work”, there isn’t a whole lot to do besides hurry up and wait. We’ll know more about this round of proposed stimulus activity in the coming weeks.

If you’re a citizen who has been laid off due to Coronavirus and filed for unemployment in the meantime, you may find yourself receiving a “back-to-work” incentive once you return.

According to the HEROES Act, workers who received unemployment benefits would receive $450 per week upon returning to work–this, of course, in addition to their take-home pay–rather than receiving the $600 per week that complements whatever their unemployment benefits amount to.

While the HEROES Act also proposes extending the current bonus of $600 per week for those receiving unemployment into 2021, some argue that this would incentivize remaining on unemployment checks rather than stimulating the economy–hence the $450 weekly bonus for returning to work when possible.

These fears aren’t without support. As Newsweek points out, the American Action Forum shows that “about 63 percent of Americans who are out of work as a result of the pandemic earn more with the enhanced unemployment benefits than they do from their normal wages”–a somewhat comforting statistic that still evokes relative unease when one considers the ramifications of attempting to reopen a reluctant country.

While it is unreasonable to assume that all 63 percent of those people would elect to remain on unemployment benefits rather than going back to work, the $450 bonus may ensure that all of these workers do, in fact, return in a timely manner.

Some may argue that Americans don’t (or shouldn’t) need an incentive to return to work and begin cranking the cogs of the economy once we’re in the clear, but such opinions are fairly short-sighted and largely dismissive of the economic strife many Americans face, especially in poorer regions.

Additionally, many workers will be required to take pay cuts upon rejoining the workforce, which makes the additional $450 per week much more attractive without eliciting criticism of American motivations and values.

As of this writing, Newsweek reports that the White House is “very carefully” considering the HEROES Act–a process that, given the proposed bill of $3 trillion, will take some time. It’s a colossal proposition that covers everything from the aforementioned weekly bonuses to a second round of stimulus checks, and even a form of student loan forgiveness, so keep your eye on this one.