Massachusetts approved for additional unemployment funds after weekly $600 federal aid expired

Massachusetts has been approved for a federal grant to supplement income for residents left unemployed by the economic impact of COVID-19.

Federal Emergency Management Administration Administrator Pete Gaynor announced late Friday that Massachusetts was approved for a FEMA grant under the Lost Wages Assistance program. Grant funding will allow Massachusetts to provide unemployed workers an additional $300 in federal funds per week, on top of the state’s weekly unemployment benefit.

The federal agency said it will work with Gov. Charlie Baker to implement a system to distribute funds to residents.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order allocating up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to support unemployed workers. The new funding comes as talks over more federal COVID stimulus money collapsed, leaving millions of unemployed Americans concerned about when the next boost will come.

The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, which provided an additional $600 check to Americans out of work because of the virus, expired July 27.

The new payments will be made retroactive to Aug. 1.

Baker, as well as other governors, expressed concern initially about the program. “It needs to be done through a separate appropriation, not by taking money from FEMA, which is how we, the states, are planning to get reimbursed,” he said, of costs incurred by the state in recent months.

“But if this program is there and it turns out to be the only thing that’s there, I don’t think Massachusetts should pass on that so we have sent a letter to the folks at FEMA saying that we intend to apply,” Baker said.

Massachusetts has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

The state’s unemployment rate for July was 16.1%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday. This marked a 1.6% drop from June.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts added 72,100 jobs in July.

Between July 2019 and July 2020, federal labor officials estimate the state lost 452,600 jobs, with the largest percentage lost in hospitality, transportation and construction.

Massachusetts’s unemployment rate for July was 5.9% higher than the national rate of 10.2%.

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