New US Jobless Benefit Claims Fall As Biden Takes Office By AFP News
on January 29 2021 1:24 AM
New applications for US unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week as President Joe Biden took office, but remain distressingly high months after the Covid-19 pandemic began, according to government data released Thursday.
The Labor Department reported 847,000 new claims for jobless benefits filed in the week ended January 23, seasonally adjusted, slightly less than analysts expected, and a decline from the 914,000 filings in the previous week.
Another 426,856 claims, without seasonal adjustment, were reported under a program passed during the pandemic to aid workers not normally eligible for benefits, according to the report.
bkibler@altoonamirror.com
The state Department of Labor & Industry is working through glitches as it begins paying benefits for two unemployment programs to benefit those out of work because of COVID-19, following Congress’s reauthorization of the programs after they expired just before the end of last year.
“I understand how frustrating it is,” said acting Labor Secretary Jennifer Berrier. “Not everything has gone as smoothly as we wanted.”
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program ended Dec. 26, and the federal government didn’t complete its extension of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that renewed them until the next day and then didn’t give states guidance for the renewal until Jan. 11, according to a department news release.
Worst perfect storm affecting thousands of unemployment claims
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Source: WBRZ
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BATON ROUGE - Monday, 2 On Your Side heard from the Secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission over long waits and lack of responses to unemployment claims. Sec. Ava Dejoie speaking today amid ongoing complaints about how long it s taking people to get help since they ve been out of work due to COVID-19.
Over the last few months, 2 On Your Side has heard from hundreds of people who say they re waiting on an unemployment check or can t reach anyone at the unemployment office. Some people say that they haven t received benefits for months and their utilities are being shut off. LWC said Monday that their system is overloaded since it s paid out seven times the number of people in 2020 compared to 2019.
Louisiana’s improving jobless rate means the state no longer qualifies for the federally funded Extended Benefits (EB) Program, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Federal benefit program ends for Louisiana
Louisiana’s improving unemployment rate means the end of one of the federally funded benefits programs that began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Louisiana Workforce Commission announced Monday.
The U.S. Department of Labor notified the LWC that Louisiana’s unemployment rate no longer meets the criteria to continue the Extended Benefits program past Jan. 23. The labor department says Louisiana’s unemployment rate was 8.3% in November, down from 9.4% the previous month but still higher than all but six other states.
About 5,200 state residents have EB claims. Those with active claims will be transferred to the federal government’s Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, the LWC says.