Around 2 million people could face delays getting $300 federal unemployment benefits

• Around 2 million people could see delays receiving unemployment benefits, including a $300 bonus.
• It could amount to a two-week delay that hits mostly gig workers and long-term unemployed people.
• Some states like New York say they can pay out enhanced unemployment aid this week.

Around two million people could face delays receiving enhanced unemployment insurance, including a $300 federal benefit, despite Democrats approving a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan ahead of government aid expiring for many people this month.

The estimate comes from a new analysis from Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow and unemployment expert at the liberal-leaning Century Foundation.

The delays, per Stettner, could largely hit those enrolled in programs set up in 2020 to provide unemployment relief to freelancers and laid-off workers who depleted regular state jobless payouts: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, respectively.

"We do expect some states to have delays, getting those who ran out of benefits back on and even starting up PUA and PEUC again," Stettner said in an interview. "You can't get the $300 without those underlying benefits."

Still, jobless workers may not have to wait for long to receive critical benefits. Stettner said he believed it would be a two-week setback for most, largely because the new stimulus law didn't make major changes to the flow of unemployment benefits. That makes it easier to administer for overburdened state labor offices.

"It is a simpler program," he told Insider. "I do think it will go better than it has and some states are indicating as such - that this will go a little more smoothly, but not without hiccups."

Stettner cited California, which issued a release saying people would be able to certify weeks - one of the steps to obtain jobless benefits - in April.

New data from the Treasury Department released Monday indicated a slight dip in the amount of unemployment money going out the door.

Around 18 million Americans are still claiming unemployment insurance a year into a pandemic which decimated vast swaths of the economy. Additional research from Stettner and Elizabeth Pancotti, policy director of Employ America, indicated that one in every four workers relied on unemployment at some point during the crisis.

Delays to obtain jobless insurance have been common during the pandemic, particularly early last year as the calamity exposed the antiquated state of unemployment offices across the US. The crush of people filing for emergency aid caused a massive backlog.

The stimulus law approved by Biden and Democrats renewed a $300 federal unemployment until Labor Day on September 6. That's also the expiration date for PUA and PEUC.

Some states are indicating they are prepared to pay out benefits as soon as this week. The New York Department of Labor said on March 17 there would be no lapse in aid, though the agency posted a tweet Monday notifying people there could be a 1-2 day delay at most.

-NYS Department of Labor (@NYSLabor) March 22, 2021

As the benefit-year ends, unemployed people should expect to continue receiving benefits without applying for them again, Stettner said.

"States should not direct people to reapply, and individuals should not reapply unless they worked since they first got laid-off," he said.