More than one million New Yorkers will begin receiving enhanced unemployment benefits next week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday.
The beefed up assistance is part of a new stimulus package that President Donald Trump signed into law on Sunday.
There was concern that the benefits would take more time to implement since Trump’s signature came after two federal unemployment programs had already expired.
The programs provide relief in three ways:
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides benefits for freelancers and gig workers who are not covered by traditional state unemployment insurance.
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provides additional weeks of benefits after an individual exhausts the 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance.
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provides all New Yorkers receiving unemployment benefits an additional $300 weekly payment.
"This pandemic has created an unprecedented economic crisis, and New Yorkers have waited in uncertainty for far too long,” Cuomo said — a statement which rings true for many New Yorkers who, in the weeks leading up to the day President Trump finally signed the COVID relief bill, endured near constant financial dread.
“I have repeatedly called on the federal government to do the right thing by renewing critical benefits to support millions of unemployed families through to the end of this pandemic - and now that Washington has finally acted, New York is immediately delivering those funds,” Cuomo added.