DOL SAYS FUNDS AVAILABLE TO REDUCE IMPROPER PAYMENTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
US Department of Labor announces availability of funds to improve performance and reduce improper payments in the Unemployment Insurance program

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of funds for states to improve program integrity, performance, and technology infrastructure systems for the Unemployment Insurance program. The grants are intended to accelerate actions to reduce UI improper payment rates; provide an opportunity for modernizing UI tax and benefits systems, and enable the design of technology-based tools to prevent, detect and recover improper UI payments.

"The unemployment insurance program is a lifeline to people who have lost a job through no fault of their own," said Eric Seleznow, acting assistant secretary of labor for employment and training. "We have a responsibility to ensure this program is run efficiently and effectively so that this critical safety net continues to be available in the future."

In Fiscal Year 2011, ETA provided $192 million in supplemental grant awards to 42 states for integrity activities. In FY 2012, a total of $169 million in supplemental grant awards was provided to 33 states for the prevention, detection, and recovery of improper UI benefit payments. The FY 2013 funding provides an opportunity for states to go beyond improper payments to focus on additional UI technology system improvements, data exchange enhancements for UI for Ex-military Service members, and integration of state UI, Employment Service, and Workforce Investment Act IT systems.

In order to qualify for FY2013 funding, states must implement or commit to implement a set of core integrity strategies. The core strategies include a business process analysis for state workforce agencies with improper payment rates above 10 percent and for agencies identified for poor performance concerning first payment and appeals timeliness; the implementation or expansion of the State Information Data Exchange System; the implementation of a state-specific prevention strategy for reducing improper payments; and a commitment to maintaining a state integrity cross-functional task force.

In addition, states committing to implement all of the core activities, or have already implemented the core activities, will be eligible to apply for technology infrastructure project funding. These funds will be used to modify and/or develop one of the core UI benefits or tax and benefit system designs; design additional core UI tax and/or benefit systems using open source components that are exportable to other states; and implement technology-based tools designed to prevent, detect or collect/recover improper UI payments.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CLAIMS ARE UNCHANGED OVER LAST WEEK

The following excerpt is from the Department of Labor website:

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT
          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending February 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised figure of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 359,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 366,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent for the week ending February 11, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 11, was 3,392,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,444,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,453,250, a decrease of 43,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,497,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 345,216 in the week ending February 18, a decrease of 19,888 from the previous week. There were 380,985 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2 percent during the week ending February 11, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,996,051, an increase of 11,166 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.7 percent and the volume was 4,587,740.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending February 4 was 7,502,791, a decrease of 178,619 from the previous week.
Extended benefits were available in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin during the week ending February 4.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,383 in the week ending February 11, a decrease of 195 from the prior week. There were 2,520 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 373 from the preceding week.
There were 28,804 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending February 4, a decrease of 1,506 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 42,021, a decrease of 829 from the prior week.
States reported 2,919,330 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending February 4, a decrease of 83,145 from the prior week. There were 3,685,361 claimants in the comparable week in 2011. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 4 were in Alaska (6.8), Idaho (4.6), Montana (4.6), Oregon (4.6), Wisconsin (4.6), Pennsylvania ( 4.5), Rhode Island (4.5), New Jersey (4.3), Puerto Rico (4.3), Connecticut (4.1), and Michigan (4.1).”