CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you’re currently unemployed, keep an eye out for a bonus deposit into your bank account soon.
Thanks to the lost wages assistance program, North Carolinians who are out of work due to the pandemic will receive up to $900 as soon as next week.
This program’s purpose is to offer a temporary unemployment boost since the $600 a week federal CARES Act benefit expired. And although it’s less money over less time, it’s still so needed by so many.
Since US Congress was unable to come on an agreement to expand the extra 600 dollars a week unemployment benefit that expired in late July, President Donald Trump signed an order that would allow states to apply for FEMA funds to add $300 a week boost to unemployment.
The funds only cover three weeks of benefits, but for so many, it's far better than nothing.
North Carolina’s application was approved this week, and payments are expected to be issued soon.
“They’re working to get the money out by next week sometime," Governor Roy Cooper said at a press conference Wednesday.
Eligible North Carolinians, those who are out of work due to the pandemic and receiving at least $100 a week in unemployment, will receive the lost wages funds retroactively from the benefit weeks ending August 1, 8, and 15.
Governor Cooper said Wednesday that the help is needed but not enough, urging US Congress to extend the $600 a week benefit, and state legislators to raise the state unemployment benefits from $350 to $500.
“In North Carolina [the pandemic] has once again exposed our unemployment benefits for the meager bottom of the country payments that they are," Cooper said.
South Carolina also applied for this lost wages assistance program but was still pending as of Thursday afternoon. Application statuses by the state can be found here.