Charleston Gazette-Mail – Over the past year, the pandemic and our nation’s response have highlighted some of the flaws in our antiquated federal-state unemployment insurance system. Read the full op-ed.
The CARES Act addressed some of these well-recognized problems, particularly through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which provides unemployment benefits to people who do not normally qualify for traditional unemployment insurance (UI).
Workers eligible for these benefits include the self-employed and small-business owners, independent contractors, gig economy workers and workers who do not have a long enough work history to qualify for state unemployment insurance benefits.