Iowa rolls out extended unemployment benefits

By Perry Beeman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
Posted 5/29/20

Iowa Workforce Development on Friday detailed new unemployment benefits for Iowans.

The CARES Act created Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provides 13 weeks of benefits …

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Iowa rolls out extended unemployment benefits

Posted

Iowa Workforce Development on Friday detailed new unemployment benefits for Iowans.

The CARES Act created Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which provides 13 weeks of benefits after an individual exhausts the original 13 weeks of state benefits. The program covers March 29 to Dec. 26.

Payments will be the same as the state programs, but also can include back payments and $600 a week from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program through the end of July.

After a person exhausts state aid and the PEUC benefits, they can get money through the State Extended Benefits program, which has been triggered by the high unemployment rate related to the COVID-19 pandemic. That program adds another 13 weeks of regular state benefits.

People in the unemployment system will be automatically shifted into the new programs as they qualify.

The state extended benefits depend on a measure of the rolling 13-week unemployment rate.

Senior reporter Perry Beeman has nearly 40 years of experience in Iowa journalism and has won national awards for environmental and business writing.