当丽贝卡·乌里去年三月在西弗吉尼亚州失去实验室技术员的工作时，每周额外的联邦失业津贴变成了生命线。
她告诉美国广播公司新闻，“没有联邦补贴，我们不可能生存下去”。
乌里说，这些福利相当于她以前周薪的一半，但足够照顾她的两个孩子，他们都患有自闭症。
“他们两个都有专门的护理，你只是不知道从一分钟到下一分钟你是否要保留你的健康保险来满足你孩子的需求，”她说。
但是对乌里和全国数百万美国人来说，联邦援助很快就会枯竭。西弗吉尼亚州是包括德克萨斯州、佛罗里达州、马里兰州和爱荷华州在内的25个州之一，由共和党州长领导，提前结束了每周300美元的补充失业救济金。
这些福利作为1.9万亿美元的美国救援计划的一部分，在9月6日之前得到资助，但现在将在6月中旬至7月初在这些州结束。
玛尔塔·拉旺迪尔/美联社
2021年5月21日，佛罗里达州珊瑚山墙，一名顾客走在诺德斯特龙商店寻找员工的标志后面。
西弗吉尼亚州州长吉姆·贾斯廷(Jim Justice)在上个月的新闻发布会上说:“我们的企业正在恳求我们的人民:我们必须让你重返工作岗位。”
共和党议员指出了来自全国各地企业的趣闻，称他们正努力雇佣工人，尽管高失业率。美国劳工部周四公布的数据显示，截至5月中旬，超过1500万美国人正在领取某种形式的失业救济金。
“我只是不确定在这个时候额外的失业救济金是否有必要，而现在真的没有必要失业，”在弗吉尼亚州经营着三家餐馆的莎拉·怀特告诉美国广播公司新闻。
怀特说，她的餐馆面临着严重的员工短缺，大约每10个申请人中只有一个去面试。
“一个姑娘对我说得非常非常直白;她说，“我知道我拿失业救济金挣得少，但是我什么时候才能挣到这么多钱坐在家里度过一个美好的夏天呢，”。
经济学家认为，扩大失业救济只是劳动力短缺难题的一小部分，他们指出了其他因素，如缺乏儿童保育和对新冠肺炎健康风险的担忧。
乌里说，在过去的一年里，她每周申请多达30份工作，但很少接到回电。她说，雇主不愿意灵活安排时间，让她能够全职工作并照顾孩子。
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有两个特殊需求孩子的母亲丽贝卡·乌里(Rebecca Urie)一直在找工作。
“现在有很多人有招聘的迹象，但如果你有一个特殊需求的孩子，他们不是那种会满足你需求的公司，”乌里说。
穆迪分析公司(Moody's Analytics)首席经济学家马克·赞迪(Mark Zandi)表示，在几周内从关闭到重新开放后，经济需要时间进行重新调整。根据劳工部的数据，上周新的失业保险索赔降至38.5万人，这是自大流行开始以来的最低水平。
“事实上，一夜之间，你已经有数百万个工作机会，”他告诉美国广播公司新闻。“所以这是我们从未见过的。”
Millions set to lose jobless benefits as 25 states end federal programs early
When Rebecca Urie lost her job as a laboratory technician in West Virginia last March, the weekly extra federalunemployment benefitsbecame a lifeline.
“There's no way that we could have survived without the federal supplement,” she told ABC News.
Urie said the benefits amount to about half of her previous weekly salary, but they were enough to care for her two children, who are both autistic.
“Both of them have specialized care, and you just don't know from one minute to the next if you're going to keep your health insurance to take care of your children's needs,” she said.
But the federal aid will soon dry up for Urie and millions of Americans across the country. West Virginia is one of 25 states, including Texas, Florida, Maryland and Iowa, led by Republican governors putting an early end to the supplemental $300 weekly unemployment benefits.
The benefits were funded through Sept. 6 as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, but will now end in those states between mid-June and early July.
“Our businesses are pleading with our people: we’ve got to have you back at work,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said at a press conference last month.
Republican lawmakers point to anecdotes from businesses across the country that say they are struggling to hire workers, despitehigh unemployment. Data released Thursday by the Labor Department showed more than 15 million Americans are collecting some form of unemployment benefits as of mid-May.
“I'm just not sure extra unemployment benefits are necessary at this point when there's not really a need to be unemployed at this point,” Sarah White, who manages three restaurants in Virginia, told ABC News.
White says her restaurants are facing a severe worker shortage, with only one out of roughly every 10 applicants showing up to interview.
“One girl put it very, very blunt to me; she said, 'I know I make less to take the unemployment, but when am I ever going to get to make this much money to sit home and have a great summer,'” White said.
Economists argue expanded unemployment benefits are a small piece of the worker shortage puzzle, pointing to other factors like a lack of child care and concerns about COVID-19 health risks.
Urie said she has applied to up to 30 jobs per week over the past year but rarely receives calls back. She says that employers are unwilling to be flexible with hours that would enable her to work full-time and care for her children.
“You have so many people with now hiring signs, but they're not the type of companies that will work with your needs if you have a special needs child,” Urie said.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said it would take time for the economy to recalibrate after it went from being shut down to reopened in a matter of weeks. According to the Labor Department, new unemployment insurance claims dropped to 385,000 last week – the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.
“Literally overnight, you've had millions of job openings,” he told ABC News. “So this is something we've never seen before.”
