The Alabama Department of Labor (ADOL) paid out $503 million in unemployment benefits between March 16 and May 1, per numbers released Monday.
The $503 million was disbursed among 206,694 claimants.
According to a release from the department, those claimants make up 84% “of those filing COVID-19 related active claims since March 16, 2020.”
According to the Tax Foundation, 9.3% of the state’s civilian workforce is out of a job.
More than half of the money paid out by the department is federally funded as part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that Congress passed in an effort to keep the economy afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
The CARES Act contained three programs aimed at the COVID-19 induced unemployment rates. They are the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC).
The most commonly claimed CARES Act benefit is the FPUC, which adds $600 to every state’s pre-existing unemployment insurance payment.
The ADOL says that $247,872,000 of the funds paid out in Alabama are part of the added $600 FPUC.
Of the remaining federal unemployment dollars dispensed in Alabama, $5,201,412 are PUA funds and $826,734 are PEUC funds.
The PUA is designed for those that do not normally receive unemployment benefits like individual contractors and the self-employed.
The PEUC is a 13-week extension of normal unemployment insurance for those who are still out work after their regular unemployment runs out.
More about the three programs can be accessed here.
“We continue to work on a daily basis to improve the systems to make them more efficient and to streamline payments,” said Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington.
“We hear the complaints and take them seriously. ADOL is working around the clock to ensure that everyone who is entitled to these funds receives them. Even though we’ve made payments to 84% of those who have filed, we know there are many still waiting, and you have not been forgotten,” he added.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
