Louisiana becomes first Democrat-led state to drop enhanced unemployment benefits

Louisiana will become the first Democrat-led state to end federal enhanced unemployment benefits early, joining 25 Republican-led states that announced they will end the programs before they were set to run out in September.

Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law on Wednesday that ends the $300-a-week supplementary federal unemployment assistance as well as other pandemic-related unemployment programs at the end of July. At the same time, Louisiana will increase the state's weekly maximum unemployment benefit by $28 starting next year. Some of the GOP-led states have already begun ending enhanced federal benefits, citing the recovering economy and workforce shortages. Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi ended federal programs extended under the American Rescue Plan until early September on June 12. This week, nine more states will join them in exiting the programs, including Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. Not including Louisiana, more than 3.9 million workers in the 25 states will lose the weekly $300 supplemental payments, the National Employment Law Project recently found.