The pollsters also found that unemployment benefits directly contributed to 13% of recipients rejecting a job offer during the pandemic.
The survey, conducted by Morning Consult, gave significant weight to concerns that benefits included in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) would discourage Americans from going back to work.
"For the week ending June 19, 14.1 million adults received unemployment benefits, which is the most recent estimate of the total number of UI recipients across both state and federal programs," Morning Consult reported from their findings.
Nearly 70 percent of people told the pollsters that their benefits are scheduled to end by August, however — which may help employers find people to fill the surplus of open positions.
"Most workers receiving unemployment insurance know that their benefits are about to expire, signaling that job acceptance and search practices are likely to change even before benefits actually expire," the Consult reports. "As of late June, 32% of UI recipients indicated that their benefits expired within a month, and an additional 37% said that their benefits would expire between one to two months. Taken together, 69% of all UI recipients believe and acknowledge that their benefits will expire by the end of August."
The pollsters added that "similarly, 35% of all UI recipients feel a lot of pressure to find work, with those whose benefits are closer to expiring were more likely to feel a lot of pressure to find a job. Forty percent of those whose benefits expire within a month indicate that they feel a lot of pressure to find a job, compared to only 25% of respondents whose benefits expire over three months into the future."
The Daily Caller reports that at least 26 states have ended the enhanced unemployment benefits included in the ARP. A state judge blocked Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan from ending the benefits on Tuesday.
Comment: Despite the draconian lockdown and social distancing measures, there's always going to be a segment of the population who will be happy in their idleness. But to be fair, who wouldn't prefer to avoid soul-sucking modern employment for as long as possible?
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