Millions of US workers face hard times after losing their jobs in the pandemic. The government has ended public relief schemes, leading to pronounced suffering for the jobless section. Individuals without employment can’t apply for unemployment benefits again, and the rising inflation levels are an insult to their injury.

Yahoo Finance reports that approximately 3.8 million individuals have nowhere to go as state and federal benefits have ceased. The increasing unemployment level is a prime cause of concern for the government.

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Survival Is Tough For The Unemployed Population

Yahoo Finance quoted Andrew Stettner, a senior member of the Century Foundation; he said, “ Yes, people have gone to work, but there’s still a large number of unemployed. There are probably more people out there that have run out of benefits and haven’t found a job than there are currently on benefits. So, both the initial claims figures and continued claims figures are depressed from how they are given this stage in the pandemic.”

Reports suggest that around 1.6 million workers received unemployment or other benefits in January and 260,000 new applicants this week. The Labor Department has shown extreme concerns regarding this issue.

Workers Have Run Out Of Relief Schemes And Benefits

Jobless individuals cannot get unemployment benefits; they need to find a suitable job for survival—the majority of workers benefitted from the pandemic unemployment benefits till September last year. “Certain individuals may have some other work history they could tap into to unlock that eligibility; this varies state by state, but as a general rule of thumb, you are going to have to have worked at least six of the past 15 months to be able to get benefits. You can’t look at the figures out there and say, ‘wow- this is an amazing economy.’ No, we still have a lot of growth that needs to be done just to rehire those people that just lost work because of COVID,” added Stettner.

The US market faces a record rise in inflation levels, prices of everyday goods and services have broken previous records. The inflation levels have been highest in the last four decades. Jobless workers need to check with government officials to receive several benefits.

January is nearly over; 2022 has begun. The first round of Social Security checks or benefits has been paid, reflecting the record-high 5.9% cost of living adjustment for 2022. The COLA figure is the highest for 40 years or four decades in the United States of America. However, this increase in Social Security benefits and Supplemented Social Income has come when inflation is sitting at over 7% and might still be increasing.

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COLA Adjusted Social Security Payments

Indeed, inflation seems to be dwarfing the cola figure by over 1% – which might mean some 70 million citizens of the United States of America, most of which are retired, actually have less economic potency even though the dollar value of their Social Security and Supplemented Social Security income has increased by 5.9% where eligible.

Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic, with the latest outbreak of the highly contagious Omicron variant, has wreaked havoc on the American economy. Such a high inflation rate has been attributed, by economists and President Bidens administration, to a problem in the supply chain, rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine and stimulus payments, as well as the effect of various lockdowns and job losses on the U.S. economy as a result of the COVID-19 variants.

For all these reasons, even though it seems that the U.S. economy is recovering from one of its greatest recessions or contractions in history – citizens who rely on Social Security and SSI need every cent. It is also important to know if you are eligible for SSI payments in addition to, or without, Social Security Payments. Checking out the link at the bottom of this article can help you in this regard. It is very probable that you are quite anxious or anticipating your second cola adjusted social security payment or supplemented social income payment. These are set to arrive in February.

Social Security Payment Dates

According to Marca, the dates are determined by the day of the month that you were born. For people whose birthdays fall from the 1st to the 10th of the month, you are set to have your COLA adjusted social security checks at your disposal on Wednesday the 9th of February. As for those whose birthdays fall between the 11th to the 20th – you are set to receive your checks on Wednesday the 17th of February. As for those whose birthday falls from and between the 21st and the 31st of the month – you will receive your payments on Wednesday the 24th of February

The United States of America’s economy is struggling to recover from the effects that over two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has had on it. Indeed, the country is trying to recover from one of the greatest economic contractions it has experienced in history.

Stimulus Checks Affect On Inflation

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States of America, under President Joe Biden, funded and ran many federal state relief programs to aid middle and lower-income citizens and help them to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most famous of these initiatives was the issuing of various stimulus checks – aimed at stimulating spending and helping consumers cope during the pandemic.

However, even though such stimulus programs did provide greater cash flow to the country’s citizens if they were eligible, some economists believe the release of such stimulus checks and funds has been one of the major contributors to the country’s soaring high inflation rate of over 7%.

Supply And Demand Driven Inflation

Indeed, according to an article found on Pharmaceutical Technology whilst many role-players in president Joe Biden’s administration have attributed the countries high inflation rates to supply chain problems and have also referred to the fact that many other countries even in Europe are struggling with high inflation rates as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they seem to negate the effect of the supply of such stimulus checks has had on the countries economy.

As with all cases, the economy works on supply and demand. When extra cash is introduced to the market, quickly demand rises and supply is not – so prices rise and so does inflation. Furthermore, the extremely high cost on the federal government for sponsoring such stimulus checks also might have played a huge role in determining America’s record-high inflation rates.

Other reasons the White House has for the countries inflation are factory shutdowns in Asia and overtaxed shipping routes that or leading to prices rising, that is according to an article found on Pharmaceutical Technology. However, as valid as the reasons maybe – it seems that the U.S. government’s decision to ‘flood the market’ with such stimulus checks has sent consumer spending into overuse, according to many economists – thus helping to increase inflation by some degree or another.