Covid relief bill offers 11 weeks of extra unemployment benefits, $300 boost and a supplement for some gig workers

Unemployed workers would get an extra 11 weeks of jobless benefits and a $300 weekly enhancement to aid payments as part of a Covid relief deal Congress reached Sunday.

Certain self-employed and gig workers would also get an extra $100 a week, according to a document summarizing the legislation.

The 11-week timeline is less than the amount offered by a bipartisan package released earlier this month. That bill would have paid extended and enhanced benefits for 16 weeks, to mid-April.

In all, the $900 billion compromise package, the result of frenzied negotiations ahead of a year-end benefits cliff for millions of workers, offers $120 billion in additional unemployment benefits.

There are more than 20 million Americans collecting unemployment benefits, according to the Labor Department.

The legislation would also extend two programs created by the CARES Act: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which pays benefits to self-employed, gig, freelance and part-time workers generally ineligible for state unemployment insurance; and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which pays extra weeks of benefits to individuals who exhausted their state benefits.

The legislation would extend these programs by 11 weeks, to mid-March, allowing individuals to receive a maximum 50 weeks of benefits.

Both programs are set to expire this weekend. Even if the legislation becomes law, there will likely be at least a short gap in benefits for many of the 14 million people receiving aid through them.

Some self-employed, gig and other workers who have both wage (i.e., W-2) and self-employment (i.e., 1099) income will also be eligible for an additional $100 a week.

Many such individuals are receiving unemployment benefits at a low level because of how their benefits have been calculated. States base their benefit level solely on wages reported on their annual W-2 tax forms, without accounting for self-employment income, which may be much higher.

The bill also offers direct economic relief for individuals via stimulus checks of $600 for individuals making up to $75,000 a year, $1,200 for couples making up to $150,000, and an extra $600 for dependent children.