Minnesota applies for federal $300 wage benefit, DHS begins budget cuts

Minnesotans dealing with unemployment will soon get a little more relief while others in the state are starting to feel the effects of a budget deficit.

Friday, Gov. Tim Walz announced Minnesota has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the Lost Wages Assistance program. When implemented, it will provide a temporary additional $300 per week benefit to Minnesotans receiving unemployment benefits.

"When the additional federal $600 weekly benefit ended in late July, hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who remain out of work were affected," said Walz. "Without additional federal benefits, families are struggling to pay for basic necessities. We must use every resource at our disposal to help Minnesotans through this pandemic."

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development said it anticipates the program will last between five and eight weeks.

You can find more information here.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Department of Human Services is cutting jobs and leaving dozens of vacant positions open at the state prison in Moose Lake and the state psychiatric hospital in St. Peter.

The moves aim to help cut a DHS deficit for the 2021 fiscal year from $38 million to just over $7 million.

"We appreciate that we’ve been able to get that far without more closing of services and without more jobs affected, but we’re not finished and we still have work to do. And we’ll be looking to partner with our labor unions and partner with the legislature and our staff to continue to look for ways to make our budget," DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead said.

The state is projecting a $5 billion deficit over the next couple of years after the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact this year.