At the end of this month, millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose their $600-per-week federal unemployment boost on top of their standard benefit. The program, part of the CARES Act, constituted a good portion of the $108.5 billion the US Treasury paid towards unemployment benefits in June.

And according to a new study released Thursday, Americans who received enhanced unemployment benefits spent roughly 10% more than when they were working, according to Reuters. This of course makes sense, as some 63% of jobless workers making more on unemployment than when they were working.

Researchers analyzed transactions for 61,000 households that received unemployment benefits between March and May. Spending dropped for all households as the virus spread and led to business shutdowns, but then rose when households began receiving jobless benefits, the study found.

That contrasts with a typical recession, when households receiving unemployment benefits usually cut spending by 7% because regular jobless benefits amount to only a fraction of a person's prior earnings, the research found. -Reuters

"Some folks are getting unemployment benefits that are larger than what they were getting paid [at] their previous jobs. That really potentially creates some wealth disincentive effects," said Harvard Economics professor Raj Chetty earlier this month at an event sponsored by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.