Gov. Gretchen Whitmer suspended the work search requirement in March of 2020 as the state’s unemployment rate soared above 22 percent amid forced business closures that aimed to control the spread of COVID-19.
But with the state unemployment rate now back near five percent, the Whitmer administration is planning to restore the requirement. The Unemployment Insurance Agency has not specified an exact date, but the state has begun telling claimants it will happen “soon.”
“Plans are to reinstate the work search requirement at the end of this month,” UIA spokesperson Lynda Robinson said Tuesday. “Claimants will need to actively search for work and report at least one work search activity per week for each week they claim benefits.”
March 16, 2021
8th District Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin talked all-things-stimulus during a town hall event on Monday.
The Holly Democrat reviewed and took questions from constituents on the $1.9-trillion dollar American Rescue Plan (ARP) while being joined with special guests from the state health department and Unemployment Insurance Agency.
Slotkin said the biggest questions coming into her office are about vaccine availability. Though there has been scarcity and competition, she said the state is scheduled to receive 474,000 doses this week. She surmised that soon the issue wonât be one of supply, but instead distribution, foreseeing most Michigan adults being vaccinated by the end of May.