Governor Ends Iowa’s Participation in Federal Unemployment Benefits
May 14, 2021
This week, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced the state will end its participation in supplemental federal unemployment benefit programs on June 12, 2021 to help address the workforce shortage. This affects:
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
- Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation (MEUC)
Moreover, effective June 13, 2021, Iowa will no longer waive employer charges for COVID-related unemployment insurance claims.
ABI applauds the governor’s decision to end the supplemental federal unemployment benefits. This action will help with the ongoing workforce shortage in the state at all skill levels. The Iowa Workforce Development reported that there are more than 66,000 available jobs. Iowa’s economy also continues to recover from the pandemic. The state’s unemployment rate was at 3.7 percent in March.
This action only affects the supplemental federal unemployment benefits. Iowa continues to provide robust state benefits to help with an unemployment safety net.
With this latest announcement, Iowa joins several other states that have announced plans to also end extended federal unemployment benefits, including: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Dakota and Wyoming.
WATCH: JD Davis and Brad Hartkopf from ABI's Public Policy team discuss what Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' announcement on federal extended unemployment benefits means for members in this week's ABI Weekly Business Report.
ABI (and its members) also received statewide coverage on this update and was featured in a number of newspaper, radio, television outlets and blogs.