Pandemic Emptied Unemployment Trust, Left Fraud Unchecked -
By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico probably overpaid unemployment insurance benefits by an estimated $250 million during the coronavirus pandemic amid a backlog of investigations into potentially fraudulent claims, the budget and accountability office of the Legislature announced Wednesday in a research report.
Analysts briefed members of the Legislature's lead budget writing committee on the trajectory of record-setting unemployment claims during pandemic.
New Mexico has paid out more than $3 billion in unemployment claims through the state's Workforce Solutions Department since the local outset of the pandemic in March 2020. That put the state unemployment trust fund into insolvency and in debt to the federal government.