Abbott removes Texas from federal pandemic unemployment programs, claims the Texas 'economy is booming'

Although the unemployment benefit boost from the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program will continue through September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has announced that he will end the program in June.

Abbott announced Texas’ withdrawal from the program on May 17, and followed it up with a few claims to back his actions in a May 27 tweet.

“The Texas economy is booming. The number of job openings are almost identical to the number of Texans receiving unemployment benefits. And almost 20% of unemployment claims filed during the pandemic appear to be fraudulent. Texans are ready to get back to work,” Abbott wrote in the tweet, in which he also shared a video from Fox News.

PolitiFact looked into claims that Abbott made in a May 18 interview, including the claim that "We now have more job openings than we do people who are on unemployment. We have 60% more job openings today than we did the month before the pandemic hit the state of Texas," and PolitiFact judged that as true.

Abbott told Fox News Host Bill Hemmer that he had the Texas Workforce Commission look into the numbers, which back his assertion.

Business leaders urged Abbott to end the state’s participation in the federal benefits programs – because they blamed their struggles in hiring on the $300 weekly aid payment.

When Abbott ended the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program for those who are employed by businesses that are not their own, he also withdrew the state from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, which helped self-employed individuals and gig workers who wouldn’t typically qualify for unemployment.

Abbott is one of 18 Republican governors who ended their state’s ties to the federal pandemic unemployment programs this month. Texans receiving those benefits will no longer do so as of June 26.