Bill Rodgers, chief economist, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers: “There is economic literature that shows when non-labor income (in this case UI Benefits) go up, the likelihood of searching for work goes down. The research also shows that when the support is about to go away and goes away, odds of searching for a job go up.
“Problem here is first the closing of the economy, such that there were no jobs to go to. Now there is the uncertainty of workplace safety, consumption that is slowly restoring itself, plus jobs that may never come back.