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The Small Business Administration, the agency administering the loans, has been in the spotlight since the creation of the program for the way it doled out loans, which businesses received them (many were not small), as well as the lack of transparency surrounding the troubled loan program. An agency spokesperson declined to answer questions about whether it knew how many recipients had later laid off workers.
But economists say that layoffs due to the PPP’s expiration will probably continue to grow as the pandemic’s toll continues. The program’s terms were originally slated to last eight weeks and was expanded to 24 weeks, although it was left up to companies whether to use the expansion.
“There’s not sufficient demand to support the employment of people at companies that received PPP,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. “Investors and legislators should brace themselves for another round of joblessness.”
