Over 169M payments have been made by the Biden administration in the 3rd round of stimulus checks. In July alone, over 2M people received up to $1,400 each. But top experts and many lawmakers say that there is a need for another stimulus check as the pandemic continues to affect the economy and the situation is far from normal.
A petition by a restaurateur has collected almost a million signatures underscoring the extent to which people are hurting even today. The pandemic and its economic downturn have led to lesser working hours and high unemployment rates, which still are at 5.2%. it was at 3.5% before the pandemic.
There are also fewer people on regular payrolls, more than 5.3M fewer than in the pre-pandemic days. The extent of the setback caused by the virulent Delta variant of the virus has led to an additional crisis. Economists have been forced to revise their forecast for economic growth this year from 6.4% to 5.9% globally.
A quarter of Americans are still struggling to even meet their household expenses. These figures are current and based on a fresh census done in the last weeks of August. Another 9.1M people have lost their extended unemployment benefits in the first week of this month.
Some States Have Gone For Their Form Of Stimulus Check
6 out of 10 people have said that the third stimulus check of up to $1,400 will not last even 3 months. Some states have gone for their stimulus checks. California has declared a Stimulus check for the Golden State for around two-thirds of its residents worth up to $600.
Some areas of Texas and the state of Florida have declared bonuses for principals and teachers to offset the effect of COVID-19. Families with children continue to receive the Child Tax Credit stimulus check. it will continue till this December.
But the end of unemployment benefits will make matters much worse and put millions of workers at risk of starvation. Even the unemployment checks have not reached 60% of the unemployed. The difficult process and lack of clarity on eligibility have dissuaded many people from applying for unemployment benefits.
