Expanded unemployment benefits that had been made available due to the COVID-19 pandemic are expiring this coming Monday. Richard Blum, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Employment Law Unit joined The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC to discuss what that means for New Yorkers.

The impact of these cuts will be devastating to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. The Biden Administration has allowed states with high unemployment, like New York, to federal COVID-19 emergency relief funds to provide some assistance to unemployed workers. Blum explained that there are in fact multiple options for extending unemployment benefits in the State and urged new Governor Kathy Hochul and the legislature to pursue them.

In addition to being a vital lifeline for people who have lost work, “money in the economy is an extremely effective countercyclical measure,” he said. “It pumps money into the economy and businesses flourish so it’s good for the business community to have the unemployment benefits continue.”

Listen to the full segment below.