This morning the state Employment Security Department (ESD) reported that initial claims for the regular state unemployment program were up 18.2 percent over the previous week. This increase is due, at least in part, to an increase in the number of fraudulent claims:
We have … seen a recent increase in fraudulent claim applications, which is contributing to the increase in initial claims. Our controls to identify these fraudulent claims are working. These claims will show up in the weekly claims numbers even though they are not paid.”
ESD reported a total of 25,246 initial claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending May 15. Of this total, 19,619 initial claims were filed under the regular state unemployment insurance program; 2,290 claims were under the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program, which covers self-employed persons, independent contractors and part-time workers; and 3,337 claims were filed under the federal pandemic unemployment compensation program, which adds 13 weeks to the maximum term of benefits.
The Morning Wire: Keeping you informed on politics, policies, and personalities of Washington State.
The number of new claims for regular unemployment insurance is an increase of 3,014 from the number of claims filed during the preceding week and 9,112 higher than the number of claims filed the week before that. Besides the increase in fraudulent claims, ESD notes:
Increases in layoffs in Health Care and Social Assistance, Educational Services, and Retail Trade contributed to the increase in regular initial claims last week.”
The four-week moving average of regular initial claims is 14,590, up 1,601 from the preceding week. I estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of regular initial claims was 17,058 up from 14,893 the preceding week.
The number of initial claims under the two federal pandemic programs is a decrease of 4,461 from the number filed during the preceding week.
ESD reports that continuing claims for unemployment insurance totaled 443,852 in the most recent week. This is 34,431 more than the number reported for the preceding week and 54,219 more than the number reported for the week before that. Fraud may have contributed to these increases.
The ESD press release is posted here.
This article was provided by the Washington Research Council
Your support matters.
Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.
"claim" - Google News
May 21, 2021 at 10:52AM
https://ift.tt/341nWKG
Fraudsters inflate unemployment insurance claim data - Washington State Wire
"claim" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FrzzOU
https://ift.tt/2VZxqTS
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fraudsters inflate unemployment insurance claim data - Washington State Wire"
Post a Comment