Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
In the past few weeks, 22 states have announced they would end federal pandemic unemployment benefits, which pay recipients $300 on top of state benefits and are scheduled to run into September. (New Hampshire is the latest.)
Many of the states’ governors, all Republicans, made statements similar to that of Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who said the expanded benefits are “incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the same.
Businesses of all types report that they are having trouble hiring despite high unemployment. But are expanded unemployment benefits really to blame?
We asked experts in economics, recruiting and other fields what’s making it hard for many U.S. businesses to hire right now — and what they can do to fix it.