3 federal pandemic-aid programs expired as of Labor Day, severing millions of Americans from unemployment benefits

• Three federal pandemic-era benefits programs ended Monday.
• The programs expanded who was eligible for unemployment insurance and for how long.
• A left-leaning think tank estimated the programs' end would affect 7.5 million unemployed Americans.

As of Monday, three federal unemployment-aid programs had come to a close, cutting off pandemic benefits for millions of people in the US.

The programs - Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and an additional weekly $300 in Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation - were scheduled to end by Labor Day.

The ability to apply for benefits in some states ended Saturday, rather than Sunday, because of a difference in which day states end their claim weeks.

The left-leaning think tank The Century Foundation estimated that 7.5 million people would lose benefits, as Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in particular created a new class of beneficiaries, allowing workers such as gig workers and freelancers to receive unemployment aid.

Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, previously told Insider the programs were ending too early and argued that President Joe Biden's administration should have waited until unemployment was closer to prepandemic levels.

"It's going to take consumer spending out of the economy - it's going to slow the rate of GDP growth," he said.

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee in turn argued the ongoing benefits made it difficult for job recruiters to compete with the amounts offered for unemployment.

Twenty-five mostly GOP-led states voluntarily opted to cut the benefits in March, affecting an estimated 4.1 million unemployed workers at the time, Time reported.

Many businesses in the US are still finding it difficult to hire workers, however. Months after Alabama and Florida opted to cut the flow of benefits, employers in some industries continue struggling to find workers, as Insider's Grace Dean reported.