$600 per week. $2,600 per month. $31,200 per year. That is what the unemployment supplement adds up to.
That is almost as much as the maximum Social Security Insurance benefit, $3,011, you will receive if you retire at your full retirement age. It is more than if you take early retirement at age 62.
Remember, $2,600 per month is over and above the standard unemployment benefit for staying at home instead of working.
And the real inequity is that the average SSI benefit is $1,470 per month; $339.23 per week. For a 40-hour work week, that is less than the minimum wage.
That is the average, so there are those that are above and those that are below.
Remember that in order to receive SSI benefits, you have to have worked! To get the unemployment supplement, you have to stay home.
So the liberal politicians think it is OK to pay people to stay home, but they don’t think it is OK to provide some extra funds to seniors that are struggling to get by not only today, but every day?
One other thing for those on SSI is that because the oil prices have gone down, gas prices have gone down, the consumer price index has gone down, so seniors will not receive a cost of living increase for 2021.
I guess we seniors should start driving more to take advantage of the low gas prices instead of buying food and prescriptions.
Dick SimmonsMancos
