The $600 Unemployment Booster Shot, State by State

A New York Times analysis looks at the differentiated impacts of the federal $600/week increase to unemployment benefits across the 50 states. Specifically, they rank states based on their ‘replacement rate’—the share of a worker’s average weekly wages that average weekly unemployment benefits replace. Interestingly, Maine and New Hampshire were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. In Maine, workers will receive an average of over 120% of their normal wages in unemployment benefits (the highest replacement rate). In contrast, New Hampshire workers had the lowest replacement rate at a bit over 80% of their average normal wages. #covid-19 #workforce