Here’s the thing - continued extension of unemployment benefits does what exactly for the economy at large - it grows a safety net that keeps getting expanded because the economy continues lumbering along at a horrific pace.

For those on unemployment, that’s the difference between possibly having a place to live or not. It’s meant to be a temporary measure, not a permanent situation.

When the government continues extending unemployment benefits that are set to expire, it may undermine the economy in the long term if you believe that those unemployed aren’t looking because they are on unemployment versus waiting until they lose their benefits before resuming a job search. I don’t buy into that having done the unemployment thing years ago - I never stopped looking though I was discouraged at more than a few points because of lagging job prospects.

No, the real problem isn’t the unemployment benefits and their extension of benefits on a temporary basis, but that jobs aren’t getting created and the saved part is pretty dubious too.

Businesses aren’t rushing to create new job opportunities and people aren’t rushing to create new small businesses to fill the void. Until that core problem is addressed, unemployment will continue to be an issue at its current rates (at or above 10% or much higher if per the U6 BLS rate).