“Take a suitable job or lose benefits”: Change in unemployment benefits back to pre-pandemic policies

President Joe Biden. AP Photo: Evan Vucci

• Measures are being taken by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure unemployed Americans can return to work safely and to good-paying jobs.

• Basic rules for UI (Unemployment Insurance) will be reaffirmed.

• Someone unemployed who is offered a suitable job must take it or lose UI benefits.

• Historic expansion of the CDCTC (Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit) from the American Rescue Plan which will provide parents a credit on taxes up to $8,000 instead of the usual $1,200.

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According to the Biden-Harris Administration, over 1.5 million jobs have been added to the economy. Despite the increase in jobs, employers are having a difficult time finding people to work due to the impact of the pandemic.

On Monday, President Biden announced that it will take the steps to remove the barriers that could be holding unemployed Americans back from getting jobs.

Based on the fact sheet released by the White House after the speech,, One measure is that UI (Unemployment Insurance) will be reinstated back to pre-pandemic policies. Workers will now have to take a “suitable job" or lose their UI Benefits.

The Biden-Harris Administration will aggressively tackle this issue to help unemployed Americans gain good-paying and safe jobs.

Another measure is to accelerate efforts to help hard-hit child care providers help parents get the child care they may need to return to work.

Many states waived their unemployment-benefits work requirements at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, 39 states have began to or are planning to, reinstate them.

Biden said: "We'll insist that the law is followed with respect to benefits, but we're not going to turn our backs on our fellow Americans."