The massive stimulus bill approved by the Senate and now before the U.S. House would give unemployed workers an additional $600 a week in benefits, above what they are eligible to receive from their state. Those increased benefits would continue for the next four months. In Connecticut, the maximum weekly benefit is $649. Under the coronavirus rescue bill, that would jump to $1,249. Nationally, unemployment claims for last week shot up to a record 3.3 million, nearly five times the historic weekly high 661,000 set at the height of the Great Recession. Connecticut has about 100,00 claims last week due to coronavirus closings, the Connecticut Department of Labor said on Wednesday. That’s up from a recent average of about 2,500 claims a week in the state.
Here’s how coronavirus rescue bill boosts unemployment benefits