Business

Where are the Workers? Cutoff of Jobless Aid Spurs No Influx

Published

5 years ago

October 23, 2021

Curtis McCray, a Mississippi Department of Corrections recruiter, left, points out a positive testimonial to a job applicant during the Lee County Area Job Fair in Tupelo, Miss., Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Employers representing a variety of manufacturing, production, service industry, medical and clerical companies attended the day long affair with an eye towards recruitment, hiring, training and retention. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers were desperate to fill.

Yet three months after half the states began ending that federal payment, there’s been no significant influx of job seekers.

In states that cut off the $300 check, the workforce — the number of people who either have a job or are looking for one — has risen no more than it has in the states that maintained the payment. That federal aid, along with two jobless aid programs that served gig workers and the long-term unemployed, ended nationally Sept. 6. Yet America’s overall workforce actually shrank that month.

“Policymakers were pinning too many hopes on ending unemployment insurance as a labor market boost,” said Fiona Greig, managing director of the JPMorgan Chase Institute, which used JPMorgan bank account data to study the issue. “The work disincentive effects were clearly small.”

Labor shortages have persisted longer than many economists expected, deepening a mystery at the heart of the job market. Companies are eager to add workers and have posted a near-record number of available jobs. Unemployment remains elevated. The economy still has 5 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic. Yet job growth slowed in August and September.

An analysis of state-by-state data by The Associated Press found that workforces in the 25 states that maintained the $300 payment actually grew slightly more from May through September, according to data released Friday, than they did in the 25 states that cut off the payment early, most of them in June. The $300-a-week federal check, on top of regular state jobless aid, meant that many of the unemployed received more in benefits than they earned at their old jobs.

An earlier study by Arindrajit Dube, an economist at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and several colleagues found that the states that cut off the $300 federal payment saw a small increase in the number of unemployed taking jobs. But it also found that it didn’t draw more people off the sidelines to look for work.

Economists point to a range of factors that are likely keeping millions of former recipients of federal jobless aid from returning to the workforce. Many Americans in public-facing jobs still fear contracting COVID-19, for example. Some families lack child care.

Other people, like Rachel Montgomery of Anderson, Indiana, have grown to cherish the opportunity to spend more time with their families and feel they can get by financially, at least for now. Montgomery, a 37-year-old mother, said she has become much “pickier” about where she’s willing to work after having lost a catering job last year. Losing the $300-a-week federal payment hasn’t changed her mind. She’ll receive her regular state jobless aid for a few more weeks.

“Once you’ve stayed home with your kids and family like this, who wants to physically have to go back to work?” she said. “As I’m looking and looking, I’ve told myself that I’m not going to sacrifice pay or flexibility working remotely when I know I’m qualified to do certain things. But what that also means is that it’s taking longer to find those kinds of jobs.”

Indeed, the pandemic appears to have caused a re-evaluation of priorities, with some people deciding to spend more time with family and others insistent on working remotely or gaining more flexible hours.

Some former recipients, especially older, more affluent ones, have decided to retire earlier than they had planned. With Americans’ overall home values and stock portfolios having surged since the pandemic struck, Fed officials estimate that up to 2 million more people have retired since then than otherwise would have.

And after having received three stimulus checks in 18 months, plus federal jobless aid in some cases, most households have larger cash cushions than they did before the pandemic. Greig and her colleagues at JPMorgan found in a study that the median bank balance for the poorest one-quarter of households has jumped 70% since COVID hit. A result is that some people are taking time to consider their options before rushing back into the job market.

Graham Berryman, a 44-year-old resident of Springfield, Missouri, has been living off savings since Missouri cut off the $300-a-week federal jobless payment in June. He has had temporary work reviewing documents for law firms in the past. But he hasn’t found anything permanent since August 2020.

“I’m not lazy,” Berryman said. “I am unemployed. That does not mean I’m lazy. Just because someone cannot find suitable work in their profession doesn’t mean they’re trash to be thrown away.”

Likewise, some couples have decided that they can get by with only one income, rather than two, at least temporarily.

Sarah Hamby of Kokomo, Indiana, lost her $300-a-week federal payment this summer after Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, ended that benefit early. Hamby’s husband, who is 65, has kept his job working an overnight shift at a printing press throughout the pandemic. But he may decide to join the ranks of people retiring earlier than they’d planned.

And Hamby, 51, may do so herself if she doesn’t find work soon. The jobs she had for decades at auto factories have largely disappeared. The positions that she sees available now require skills she doesn’t have. Yet she isn’t desperate for just any job.

“I’m at a point where I feel too old to go off and get educated or trained to do other type of work,” she said. “And to be honest, I don’t want to go work at a computer, in an office, like what a lot of us are being pushed to do. So now I’m stuck between doing some line of work that pays too little for what it’s worth — or is too physically demanding — or I just don’t work.”

Nationally, the proportion of women who were either working or looking for work in September fell for a second straight month, evidence that many parents — mostly mothers — are still unable to manage their childcare duties to return to work. Staffing at childcare centers has fallen, reducing the care that is available. And while schools have reopened for in-person learning, frequent closings because of COVID outbreaks have been disruptive for some working parents.

Exacerbating the labor shortfall, a record number of people quit their jobs in August, in some cases spurred by the prospect of higher pay elsewhere.

In Missouri, a group of businesses, still frustrated by labor shortages more than three months after the state cut off the $300-a-week federal jobless checks, paid for billboards in Springfield that said: “Get Off Your Butt!” and “Get. To. Work.”

The state has seen no growth in its workforce since ending emergency benefits.

“We don’t know where people are,” said Brad Parke, general manager of Greek Corner Screen Printing and Embroidery, who helped pay for the billboards. “Obviously, they’re not at work. Apparently, they’re at home.”

Richard von Glahn, policy director for Missouri Jobs With Justice, an advocacy group, suggested that many people on the sidelines of the job market want more benefits or the flexibility to care for children.

“People don’t want to go back” to the pre-pandemic job market, von Glahn said. “Employers have a role in creating a work environment and offering a package that provides workers the security they need.”

In Wyoming, fewer people are in the workforce now than when the state cut off all emergency jobless aid. Fear of contracting COVID-19 likely discouraged some people from seeking jobs, Wenlin Liu, chief economist at the state Economic Analysis Division, said last week.

Wyoming has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, he noted, and has been a COVID-19 hotspot since late summer. The surge in infections, Liu said, may be causing some parents to keep their children home.

State Rep. Landon Brown, a Republican, defended the cutoff of federal unemployment aid.

“Wyoming,” Brown said, “is not interested in continuing to allow the federal government to keep people away from jobs, paying them as much to stay home in some cases as to go and get a job.”

Mississippi ended all emergency jobless aid on June 12. Yet it had fewer people working in August than in May. In Tupelo last week, a job fair attracted 60 companies, including a recruiter from VT Halter Marine, a shipbuilder located 300 miles south. About 150 to 200 job seekers also attended, fewer than some businesses had hoped.

Adam Todd had organized the job fair for the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, which helps people find jobs and distributes unemployment benefits. The agency has received “calls of desperation,” Todd said, “from businesses needing to recruit workers during the pandemic.

“We’re in a different point in time than we have been in a very long time,” Todd said. “The job seeker is truly in the driver’s seat right now.”

Business

GOAA Highlights Airport Improvements, Approves New Small Business Policies

Published

1 day ago

October 22, 2026

FNN NEWS

Gate Link train on an elevated guideway at Orlando International Airport, with palm trees, airport buildings and a control tower behind it.

A Gate Link train travels along an elevated guideway at Orlando International Airport, with the airport’s control tower in the background. Photo courtesy of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

Terminal upgrades, parking projects and international connections mark the authority’s fiscal year review.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) — The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority highlighted terminal improvements, expanded international connections and parking projects during its fiscal 2026 review, while its board adopted changes to a local business program and announced a new statewide small business initiative.

The updates affect Orlando International Airport and Orlando Executive Airport, which GOAA operates.

“We are undertaking an ambitious effort to redefine what it means to deliver a world-class airport experience,” GOAA CEO Lance Lyttle said in the authority’s announcement.
“As we welcome more visitors, more airlines, more routes, and new programs, our responsibility is to elevate every part of the journey — making it more welcoming, intuitive, and connected.”

A Gate Link train travels along an elevated guideway at Orlando International Airport, with the airport’s control tower in the background. Photo courtesy of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

Terminal Improvements Focus on Connections and Families

Among the completed projects was an enclosed pedestrian bridge with moving walkways connecting Orlando International Airport’s train station and Terminal C.

Terminal C also opened a new wing serving gates 250–254, providing additional capacity and becoming the new home for Virgin Atlantic’s airport operations.

Three new Family Zones — one in each terminal — offer spaces for children and families to play, read and recharge. GOAA also highlighted improvements to directional signs along airport roads, in parking areas and throughout the terminals.

Parking Expansion and $40 Million Improvement Program

GOAA reported progress on a parking guidance system at Terminal C, with phased activation across all garages planned through mid-2027.

Dedicated employee parking areas are intended to free additional spaces for travelers. Planning is also underway for two new garages expected to add 8,000 public parking spaces over the next few years.

Separately, the authority’s $40 million Beautiful Airports Program targets safety, functionality and appearance across garages, terminals and other airport areas.

Aviation Investments and International Service

The fiscal year review highlighted a $50 million investment by dnata, a $26 million redevelopment by Signature Aviation at Orlando International Airport and groundbreaking for Sky Harbour’s $40 million campus at Orlando Executive Airport.

International service developments included ZIPAIR’s nonstop passenger charter flights between Orlando and Tokyo and Iberia’s launch of nonstop service to Madrid.

GOAA described ZIPAIR’s service as the first passenger charter connection between Florida and the Asia-Pacific region.

Business Policy Changes Broaden Eligibility

The board adopted revisions to GOAA’s Local Developing Business program following research, town halls and discussions with internal experts.

The changes increase the allowable personal net worth threshold and clarify how assets are excluded from that calculation, including primary residence equity, business equity, retirement assets and certain nonliquid holdings.

Business size standards were also revised to account for inflation and increased operating costs. The announcement did not specify the updated financial thresholds.

A new Small Business program will complement the local program and extend eligibility to qualifying businesses throughout Florida. Under the announced framework, participating businesses must fall within 50% of the applicable U.S. Small Business Administration size standard.

GOAA said detailed guidelines for both programs would be posted on its website. Those guidelines will provide businesses with the information needed to assess eligibility.

Business

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson Listed as Speaker for Global AI, Supply Chain Summit

Published

2 weeks ago

October 9, 2026

FNN NEWS

Organizers say the Oct. 26–27 conference will bring together business leaders, policymakers and technology professionals for discussions on global commerce, digital transformation and industry innovation.

DALLAS, TX (FNN) — Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson is listed as an invited speaker for the Global Procurement, Supply Chain, AI & Logistics Summit and Global Recognition Awards 2026, scheduled for Oct. 26–27 in Dallas, according to an announcement from the event’s organizer.

The American Association of Procurement, Supply Chain and Tourism Management, known as AAPSCM, said the two-day summit will take place at the AC Hotel & Residence Inn Dallas by the Galleria, 5460 James Temple Drive.

The conference will focus on artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience, innovation and the future of global commerce.

Mayor listed among international speakers

Organizers identified Johnson among the invited speakers joining executives, policymakers, academics, consultants and professionals in procurement, supply chain management, technology and logistics.

The announcement describes participants as coming “from the United States and around the world.”

According to the release, Johnson is listed among speakers participating in the Oct. 27 program. The announcement does not specify the subject or time of his remarks.

AI, forecasting and digital transformation

The second day’s agenda includes a session on artificial intelligence and machine learning in inventory management, forecasting, and sales and operations planning.

An executive leadership session titled “Driving Innovation & Digital Transformation” is scheduled to follow.

The program will examine technology’s role in procurement, logistics and supply chain operations, with an emphasis on how leaders respond to changing business conditions.

Awards to recognize industry achievement

The summit will also include procurement and supply chain awards, followed by Global Excellence Awards recognizing individuals, organizations and industry leaders.

Organizers said the awards program includes more than 35 categories spanning procurement, supply chain management, artificial intelligence and logistics.

The announcement describes the awards as recognizing “achievement, innovation and leadership.”

Executives and decision-makers expected

AAPSCM said it expects attendees to include chief executives, chief procurement officers, chief supply chain officers, chief operating officers and technology leaders.

The anticipated audience also includes procurement directors, logistics professionals, government representatives and specialists in AI and digital transformation.

About the organizer

AAPSCM describes itself as a U.S.-based nonprofit professional organization that supports professional development through certification, education, training, membership, conferences and international collaboration.

Event and registration information

Event: 2nd Global Procurement, Supply Chain, AI & Logistics Summit & Global Recognition Awards 2026
Dates: Oct. 26–27, 2026
Venue: AC Hotel & Residence Inn Dallas by the Galleria
Address: 5460 James Temple Drive, Dallas, Texas 75240
Organizer: American Association of Procurement, Supply Chain and Tourism Management
Registration: aapscm-conferences.org
Organization: aapscm.org

Business

Hola at the Park Set for Oct. 3 in Altamonte Springs; Admission Free

Published

3 weeks ago

October 1, 2026

FNN NEWS

Florida National News and FNN News en Español will provide on-site coverage of the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at Cranes Roost Park.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (FNN) — Hola at the Park will bring Hispanic culture, local businesses and live entertainment to Cranes Roost Park on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 2 to 6 p.m.

Hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Metro Orlando and presented by AdventHealth, the event celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month through food, entertainment, entrepreneurship and community connections.

According to the chamber’s event announcement, admission is free, the celebration is open to the community and no registration is required.

FNN to Spotlight Businesses and Community Voices

Florida National News and FNN News en Español, official media sponsors, will be on location covering the festivities.

The FNN team will spotlight chamber representatives, sponsors, participating businesses and community leaders, while sharing attendees’ perspectives throughout the afternoon.

Coverage will highlight the people, businesses and cultural traditions contributing to the celebration.

Photo: Florida National News

Food, Entertainment and Family Activities

The chamber’s announcement lists authentic cuisine, live entertainment, local businesses, wellness experiences, community resources, networking and family-friendly activities among the event’s offerings.

Attendees will have opportunities to explore Hispanic traditions, connect with entrepreneurs and learn about organizations serving Central Florida.

Photo: Florida National News

A Waterfront Setting in Uptown Altamonte

Cranes Roost Park, located in Uptown Altamonte, features a waterfront setting with scenic walkways around Cranes Roost Lake and the Eddie Rose Amphitheater and floating stage.

The park will serve as the gathering place for an afternoon celebrating Hispanic heritage and the connections between culture, business and community.