In places like Missouri and 21 others states that will be ending extended and enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits this month, rates of unemployment are falling at levels higher than counterparts still providing these benefits.

The revelation calls into question once again if the allocations, which provide a boosted $300 in payments, are helping or hindering economic recovery efforts as the United States reins in the pandemic, a point that the White House has denied on numerous occasions. The payments, passed this spring by the federal government, are set to expire in September, but states can opt out before then.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson said that while the benefits were helpful during the height of the pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal , their continuation has “worsened the workforce issues we are facing.”

22 states will be ending these enhanced benefits this month, including Missouri. An additional four more states will be ending the same benefits by July 10.

From mid-May to the week ending of June 12, when many states announced the changes to unemployment benefits, the number of workers paid through regular state programs fell 13.8 percent, according to an analysis by Jefferies LLC economists. “That compares with a 10 percent decline in states ending benefits in July, and a 5.7 percent decrease in states ending benefits in September,” reported the Wall Street Journal .

“You’re starting to see a response to these programs ending,” said Jefferies chief financial economist Aneta Markowska. In recent months “employers were having to compete with the […]

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