More than 30,000 unemployed Hawaii residents will lose their weekly federal benefits following today even as record-setting numbers from the delta variant continue to ravage the state.

An additional 45,000 people in Hawaii also will lose their $300-a-week, or plus-up, federal supplemental unemployment payment after this weekend. These recipients, however, will continue to receive their regular state unemployment benefits. The number of Hawaii residents filing initial jobless claims for the week that ended Aug. 28 declined 67.3% to 2,218 from 6,782 in the year-earlier period.

“Unemployment insurance benefits serve as a critical safety net for individuals who have lost jobs through no fault of their own, so the loss of the extended federal benefits will have a significant impact for those who have not yet been able to go obtain employment yet for whatever reason,” Anne Perreira-Eustaquio, director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said Friday.

The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which is for people who have been unemployed for more than six months, has 25,441 Hawaii claimants, of which 6,500 previously opted to stay on PEUC instead of file a new, initial claim, according to the DLIR. Those 6,500 still may be eligible to file now for a regular unemployment claim.

“They (the 6,500) are potentially eligible for the new initial claim pending weekly certification,” DLIR spokesman Bill Kunstman said via email. “It is absolutely critical that they file for the week ending 9/4 during the week of the 5th-11th as we will move them back to the new, initial claim on the 11th. This involves invalidating the continued PEUC claim that they were on in the mainframe and starting the new, initial claim.”

Kunstman said if they do not file, then they will have a break in their claim and encounter delays as they will not be able to file for the week ending today after the 11th due to a break in filing.

“We do not know how many of (the 25,441 PEUC claimants) now qualify for a new, initial claim as many went back to work, but not all,” Kunstman said. “If claimants have not worked and met the eligibility requirements, they would not be eligible for a new initial claim. If they do file, these 6,500 PEUC claimants could file a weekly certification on the 12th and be eligible for that first week (the week ending 9/11) after the temporary federal program ends, although that would not be paid for that week as it would also serve as the reinstituted, mandatory waiting week for the new, initial claim.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, program that provides jobless aid to self-employed and gig workers has 15,315 claimants in Hawaii. Some initially couldn’t qualify for regular UI but qualified for PUA for COVID-19 reasons and might now have enough earnings to qualify for regular UI and a new, initial claim, according to Kunstman.

“But we don’t know how many of them may be eligible,” he added.

Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy, which has been gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to take a hit due to the reduced federal payments.

“When the federal government reduces the money, there will be a reduction in spending from about 75,000 people,” said Eugene Tian, chief economist for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. “The reduction in spending will impact the economy and reduce the economic growth.”

The same scenario is playing out nationwide as millions of jobless Americans lose their financial lifeline.

About 8.9 million people will lose those weekly PEUC and PUA benefit payments, according to an estimate by Oxford Economics. An additional 2.1 million people will lose the $300-a-week federal supplemental unemployment payment.

The cutoffs come as employers have been steadily hiring and laying off fewer workers. The number of people applying for jobless aid nationally dropped 14,000 last week to 340,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday, to the lowest level since the pandemic struck in March 2020.

Still, the number of people who will lose financial support starting next week is much higher than during previous cutoffs of expanded unemployment aid. After the Great Recession in 2008-2009, for example, when jobless aid was extended to 99 weeks, that extension lasted through 2013. When that benefits program finally ended, just 1.3 million people were still receiving aid.

The current expanded jobless aid programs were created in the financial rescue legislation that was enacted after the pandemic erupted and was extended by President Joe Biden in March. Lawmakers generally expected that by September, with more Americans vaccinated and employers stepping up hiring, the pandemic would fade and the economy would fully recover.

While the economy is rebounding, economists worry that the delta variant may slow hiring and growth.

The government’s August jobs report that was released Friday did indeed show a slowdown in hiring.

The U.S. Labor Department reported an increase last month of just 235,000 jobs, far lower than the 720,000 expected.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.