Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa has a severe workforce shortage and she’s joining a growing list of Republican governors who are rejecting the extra unemployment benefits included in federal pandemic relief measures.
Reynolds says it’s time for everyone who can to get back to work and the 300-dollars added to an individual’s weekly unemployment benefits will end June 12th. Reynolds says the extra federal unemployment benefits provided crucial assistance when the pandemic began, but she says these payments now are discouraging people from returning to work. The governor says with a three-point-seven percent unemployment rate, Iowa has more jobs available than unemployed people.
There have been extended federal benefits, beyond the traditional 26 weeks of unemployment for laid off workers, and the governor is ordering those to end June 12th as well. Iowa Association of Business and Industry president Mike Ralston issued a statement praising Reynolds for making these moves. Ralston says the extra unemployment benefits exacerbated the workforce shortage Iowa was experiencing before the pandemic. The director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance says Iowa’s economy needs people to safely and responsibly get back to work. The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate says it makes no sense for Governor Reynolds to pull the rug out from under unemployed Iowans while there’s still a worldwide pandemic. President Biden said yesterday any unemployed American who’s offered a suitable job must take it or lose benefits. Biden says Americans want to work and will, if they’re paid a decent wage.
