Texans at high risk for COVID-19 will have to resume looking for work to stay on unemployment – The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN — Workers in Texas who are at high-risk for COVID-19 will have to start looking for new jobs next month to continue receiving unemployment benefits.

The Texas Workforce Commission announced Tuesday the return of its work search requirement, which brought back the need to prove three job searches per week in order for a person to continue receiving unemployment benefits. Because payments are distributed in a biweekly basis, a worker would have to prove six job searches per period beginning in mid-July to continue receiving benefits.

Texans over 65 and those who have health conditions that put them at high-risk for complications if they contract COVID-19 will also be expected to look for new jobs, Cisco Gamez, a spokesman for the commission said Thursday.

People over 65 had previously been allowed to automatically stay on unemployment benefits if they felt it was unsafe for them to return to work. Those with high-risk health conditions had been generally lent the same leeway, but the commission investigated those cases at its discretion.

Now, those exemptions will be gone and those with high-risk conditions will have to meet the same requirements as every other worker.

Gamez said people on unemployment can seek out remote work. They could meet the search requirements by attending virtual job fairs put on by local Texas Workforce Boards or by searching for work online.

Access to remote work, however, may be challenging. In September 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that only 29% of workers could work at home in their primary job. The Texas Workforce Commission does not have data on remote work available for the state.

There may be other challenges. Jobs numbers for the state are due Friday, but in April the state had a 12.8% unemployment rate. That means more people will be fighting for the limited remote work jobs available.

Hispanics, who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, were less likely to work at home than other workers. Black workers, who have also been greatly impacted, were less likely to work from home than white and Asian workers.

That was under normal conditions, which may be exacerbated during the global pandemic.

Remote work also has an education gap. Among workers age 25 or older who worked from home at least occasionally, 47% had a bachelor’s degree or higher. That number dropped to 9% for workers with a high school education and 3% for those without a high school diploma.

The workers more likely to work from home came from management, business and financial operations. Nearly one-half of those workers worked from home under regular circumstances.

Officials with the Texas Workforce Commission said that as business in the state begins to reopen, the commission must push workers back into employment.

The work search requirement is federally mandated but has been waived during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other large states like California and Florida have not brought back the requirement. Last week, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis waived the requirements for another three weeks.

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