Benjamin Fearnow is reporting for Newsweek the U.S. Labor Department said a technicality may cause many Americans to have their $600 of weekly unemployment benefits cut off a week earlier than expected. Distribution of the unemployment benefits stipulated in the CARES Act is scheduled to end Fri., July 31. For many of the 33 million Americans collecting some form of unemployment benefits, including residents of New York, the final day to receive the extra $600 will be the week ending July 25, or July 26. The Labor Department has cautioned the final payment may come a week earlier than the calendar suggests. Following those final July dates, unemployment benefits will revert back to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. Just under 1.5 million workers filed new state unemployment claims last week, marking the 14th week in a row in which the number of claims filed has surpassed one million. An additional 728,000 Americans filed for benefits from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which covers self-employed and independent contractors. In the U.S. currently, 1-in-5 workers has either received or recently applied to receive unemployment benefits as the pandemic pushes into late summer. Congressional lawmakers do not have any plans for additional federal unemployment benefits beyond July 31. Read the full story at Newsweek [dot] com.