Statement on Gov. Hogan’s Proposal to Reinstate Unemployment Work Search Requirements

Maryland Center on Economic Policy President and CEO Benjamin Orr issued the following statement in response to Governor Hogan’s announcement that the state will begin reinstating work search requirements for people receiving unemployment assistance:

“Even as we hopefully see continued success in getting the pandemic under control, there are still tens of thousands of Marylanders out of work and it will take time for our economy to recover. It is essential that we maintain unemployment payments and other economic supports that have been a vital lifeline to hundreds of thousands of Marylanders over the last year, and that policymakers continue to address gaps in that support.

It is premature to begin reinstating work search requirements for people relying on unemployment payments, putting at risk the economic support that has been keeping families afloat. While the situation is rapidly evolving, data suggest that there are still far more job-seekers than available jobs.

And, reinstating work search requirements adds an additional obstacle for people who are out of work and an additional administrative burden for a state agency that has not had enough resources to support job-seekers through the application process. Throughout the pandemic, this has left thousands of Marylanders without income for weeks and months as they wait for their cases to be resolved. Maryland ranks among the bottom of states in paying unemployment claims, having paid only 40% of initial claims.

Before the pandemic, Maryland was just barely starting to recover from the Great Recession of more than a decade ago. From that slow and difficult recovery, we learned that the best way to get the economy moving again is through strong public investments in the services communities rely on and the people who are struggling to make ends meet. That should be our priority – not creating additional barriers for people who have suffered the greatest economic harms during the course of the pandemic.”

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