Number of Idaho unemployment claims going down - East Idaho News
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Number of Idaho unemployment claims going down

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The backlog of jobless Idaho workers who have gone for weeks, even months, without federal coronavirus-related unemployment payments is shrinking, the state Department of Labor says.

The department said Wednesday that it has whittled pending claims to just over 20,000, from 42,000. More than 149,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment compensation in the 13 weeks after Gov. Brad Little declared an emergency on March 13 through last Saturday, June 13.

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The surge of layoffs and furloughs, especially in the first five weeks, overwhelmed the agency. It has struggled with claimants whose applications raised questions about eligibility that forced their claims into pending status until they could be investigated. Many claimants have gone with no income as their bills have piled up.

The department also has struggled to adapt to a provision in Congress’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus-relief law, passed in March, that authorized payments to self-employed people, such as contractors and gig-economy workers. They are not eligible for regular state unemployment payments, so they were not in the department’s employment records.

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The agency on June 1 started using a 30-person call center, run by Maximus, to take calls, but it was immediately overwhelmed by callers seeking information. Twenty additional people were later added, and the department on Wednesday said the staff would double to 100 by Thursday. The agency also reassigned about 50 employees to the backlog and hired 19 claims specialists.

An executive order signed by Little has helped by temporarily easing some unemployment insurance eligibility requirements, the department said in a news release.

Fraudulent claims rise: Idaho and other states have seen increases in fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation in recent weeks, the department said. About 25 percent of new claims during the week of June 8 were flagged for possible identity theft.

This article first appeared in the Idaho Statesman. Is is used here with permission.

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