Republicans Spar With Evers Administration Over Unemployment Claims
Friday, May 29th, 2020 -- 8:48 AM
(AP) -Wisconsin Republicans sparred with leaders in Democratic Gov. Tony Evers administration during a sometimes heated legislative hearing Wednesday, faulting them for not doing enough to quickly process surging unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic.The Senate labor committee hearing laid bare the partisan debate over who is to blame for the backlog of unprocessed claims. That backlog may continue into October, depending on staffing levels, Department of Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman told the committee. The unprecedented surge in unemployment claims caused by the pandemic resulted in a more than quadrupling of Wisconsin’s unemployment rate to 14.1% in April, its highest since The Great Depression.
The average number of weekly claims skyrocketed from 45,000 a week to 300,000. As of Saturday, 2.4 million claims had been received but only about 1.7 million had been processed, according to DWD. Of the roughly 728,000 unpaid claims, about 11% were ineligible.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.