The PUA is an unemployment program in California that aims to support millions of self-employed, freelance, and gig economy workers.
Several independent workers in California have lost work, projects, and income in the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that paved the way for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. It will provide unemployment insurance payments to displaced workers that do not usually qualify for benefits.
The program continues to accept applications online as of April 28.
Those who will receive PUA benefits are independent contractors and self-employed workers. Other classifications include those whose salary records are not long enough to qualify for unemployment and those whose unemployment benefits already dried up.
According to Labor Secretary Julie Su, California aims to implement quick processing times and payment turnarounds. Individuals with EDD debit cards should get their payments in two days. However, others will can expect their benefits in seven days.
Since payments are retroactive, those who have been waiting for their payments for several weeks can receive compensation for that time. These workers can get benefits dating back to February 2 or after. It depends on when one has started to lose income due to COVID-19.
Payment amounts
According to the California Employment Development Department, qualified workers can receive the following payment amounts:
- "Phase 1: $167 per week for each week you were unemployed from Feb. 2, 2020 to March 28, 2020 due to the pandemic
- Phase 2: $167 plus $600 per week for each week you were unemployed from March 29, 2020 to July 25, 2020 due to the pandemic. (The extra $600 per week comes from the federal CARES Act, which is currently only in effect through July.)
- Phase 3: $167 per week for each week you are unemployed from July 26, 2020 to Dec. 26, 2020."
Individuals should have legal documents that allow them to work in California to qualify. Meanwhile, undocumented workers can avail to a different $5 million relief fund, which Governor Newsom says will start in early May.
Officials report a 39-week cap on PUA benefits. The EDD website contains more information on the PUA program.
Unemployment in US
There were 4.4 million US citizens who filed for unemployment benefits last week as companies remain closed amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the US Department of Labor, Â the figure factored in seasonal adjustments but without those adjustments, the raw number was still 4.3 million.
Over the past three weeks, the number of claims have declined from a peak of 6.9 million in the last week of March. The filings continued to be in millions. This was very remote from the pre-pandemic weekly claims which was around the low 200,000s.
Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said that even if the weekly claims filings started declining, the damage already exists.
The Department of Labor pointed out that the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was at 11% in the week ending April 11. Records show this is the highest level in the series.
In the week ended April 11, continued jobless claims was almost 16 million after seasonal adjustments, up from 11.9 million in the previous week. These are workers who filed for their second week of benefits or more.
