With 2025 approaching, businesses are preparing for increased costs that are tied to the state failing to repay a pandemic-era loan from the federal government. “During the pandemic, a lot of people were unemployed, so businesses were shut down and they laid off workers, so those workers were drawing a lot of unemployment benefits,” University of San Diego Economics Professor Alan Gin explained. “To help tide the states over, the federal government gave loans to cover any increases that they experienced in terms of unemployment.”