On Monday, the three federal Unemployment Insurance programs put in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic will end.

That date happens to be Labor Day.

The national Century Foundation, in a new report, estimates that more than 7.5 million workers nationwide will face a benefits cliff with the loss of benefits from two of those programs.

Here in Michigan, an estimated 216,633 Michigan unemployed workers will lose Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides federal funding to states to temporarily fill state unemployment coverage gaps. And approximately 148,272 Michigan workers will lose Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides additional weeks of unemployment benefits for unemployed workers who have exhausted their 26 state-funded benefit weeks.

The workers receiving federal benefits from those two programs will lose all of their Unemployment Insurance assistance, since they, by definition, are not eligible for state-funded unemployment.

In addition, all of the workers above, along with all workers receiving state unemployment, receive an additional $300 per week in supplemental benefits from a third federal program, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. That program will also end on Monday, meaning workers still receiving state benefits will not lose all of their unemployment, but will receive $300 less per week in benefits.

In Michigan, because the maximum weekly benefit is $362, those workers will see their benefits cut from $662 per week to $362 per week beginning on Labor Day.

There are currently approximately 95,600 workers receiving regular unemployment that will see a $300-per-week cut.

It is important to keep in mind when reading those figures that unemployment and its federal pandemic supplements not only helped workers and their families, but kept Michigan’s economy alive.

With so many employers having had to shut down temporarily to protect public health, the extremely large number of workers who would have suddenly been without money to spend would have cut way down on spending at supermarkets, department stores, and essential small shops, hurting those retail businesses. They would have foregone necessary car repairs, hurting auto mechanics. They would have declined to get takeout food at restaurants, putting those employees at risk of underemployment or unemployment.

While many establishments sadly did go out of business during the past 16 months, without the additional $300 supplement going to unemployed households, Michigan would likely have lost many more businesses.

The federal Unemployment Insurance programs ending on Labor Day is something that Michigan’s Legislature and governor have no control over.

However, moving forward, the Legislature should act to strengthen Michigan’s unemployment policies to cover more workers, pay adequate benefits, and provide more worker protections. Some of the Michigan League for Public Policy’s recommendations currently in bills before the Legislature include:

∫ Restoring the maximum number of weeks for basic unemployment from 20 to 26 weeks.

∫ Pegging the maximum benefit to the average weekly wage, as the current amount replaces only 33% of the average weekly wage.

∫ Lowering the earnings requirements for unemployed workers to collect unemployment benefits.

∫ Raising the dependent allowance from $6 to $20.

∫ Establishing an “ABC test” to prevent employees from being wrongly classified as contract workers and hence be left out of Unemployment Insurance coverage.

Despite the fact that Michigan falls far short of its Midwestern peers in how its system responds to unemployment, most of those bills have not seen any action since they were introduced.

For the sake of Michigan’s workers, their families, and our state’s future, legislative leaders and the relevant committee chairs need to bring those bills up for hearings and votes, rather than let them die through inaction.

Some of those reforms, such as establishing an ABC test and expanding national standards for employee eligibility, would ideally be made by Congress on the federal level and applied across states.

But, since any federal reform will take a long time, Michigan’s Legislature needs to act now to improve our outdated Unemployment Insurance policies and better support Michigan workers and their families.

Peter Ruark is senior policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy.