
It's not just the extra $300. A subset of workers around the country is getting shut out of the unemployment system altogether.
Driving the news: Of the 26 states cutting topped-up benefits, all but four are ending (or have already ended) the program that allowed self-employed, gig and freelance workers to collect jobless aid.
Why it matters: It's part of a grand experiment underway in states across the country: preemptively shutting off pandemic-era programs in an effort to coax people back to work as businesses say they can't find staff.