Catherwood LibraryILR School

As the COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered flaws in the U.S. unemployment system, the Labor Department will be granting funding to states to fix the issues. Fraudulent unemployment benefit claims have been up since spring 2020 and experts say that about $87 billion in benefits may have been paid improperly, a significant portion due to fraud. The Labor Department is allocating $240 million in grants to help states combat fraud. The department will also issue $260 million in equity grants to help states improve their outreach and customer service to address potential ethnic and racial disparities in the unemployment system.