Oklahomans Anticipating Changes In Unemployment Benefits

Friday could be the last day Oklahomans relying on unemployment benefits could receive the money they need to make ends meet.

The extra $600 was a booster fund provided through the CARES act and scheduled to end on July 31.

Currently, there is no policy to extend or replace the extra unemployment benefit due to COVID-19, which has some Oklahomans worried.

"If you have gotten your money, you have been able to catch up like we have but now we are going to get so far behind once again,” Roxie said, whose family is relying on the extra unemployment benefits. “I don't know what we are going to do.”

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission said if someone has not received their benefits, they would still be able to get that money.

“We will pay from the point that someone became unemployed or that effective date we have in the system,” OESC Interim Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt said.