Officials with the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) reported this week that exactly 99.4 percent of all eligible claimants with a benefit year beginning in March 2020 until the present day who have requested a payment have received one.
COVID-19 broke out in the United States around March 2020.
GDOL officials are also advertising eligible jobs for these claimants to pursue.
This, according to a press release that GDOL officials published on their website.
“As of today, over 241,000 jobs are listed on EmployGeorgia for Georgians to access. These listings could include multiple positions for each job indicating a much higher number of positions available. In many cases, employers are willing to train quality candidates and assist with attainment of additional credentials. The GDOL offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume, and assisting with other reemployment needs,” according to the press release.
“The GDOL has paid over $21 billion in state and federal benefits since the beginning of the pandemic in March of this year. Last week, the GDOL issued almost $183 million in benefits, which include regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and State Extended Benefits. Since week ending March 21, 2020, 4,720,125 regular UI initial claims have been processed, more than the nine years prior to the pandemic combined (4 million). Last week, regular unemployment insurance initial claims totaled 28,764, down 3,617 over the week. Additionally, the agency currently has 225,587 active PUA claims.”
The sectors with the most weekly regular unemployment initial claims processed included accommodation and food services, administrative and support services, retail trade, manufacturing, and health care. The number of initial unemployment claims filed throughout the United States for the week ending April 24, was 553,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 566,000, the press release said.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
