Arkansas will no longer participate in the federal supplemental unemployment assistance program after June.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson has directed the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services to cease its participation in the federal program after June 26. He attributed this decision to a need for employees and increasing economic activity in Arkansas.
“The programs were implemented to assist the unemployed during the pandemic when businesses were laying off employees and jobs were scarce,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “As we emerge from COVID-19, retail and service companies, restaurants, and industry are attempting to return to pre-pandemic unemployment levels, but employees are as scarce today as jobs were a year ago. The $300 federal supplement helped thousands of Arkansans make it through this tough time, so it served a good purpose. Now we need Arkansans back on the job so that we can get our economy back to full speed.”
Arkansas joins Montana and South Carolina in opting out of the unemployment supplemental assistance.
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