As North Carolina approaches $10 billion in state and federal unemployment benefit payments, the number of initial claims appears to be stabilizing in February.
The current COVID-19 relief bill before Congress would extend at least two federal unemployment benefit programs to at least September, according to the White House.
The U.S. Senate voted 51-50 early Friday to approve a federal budget plan sought by the Biden administration, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
Later Friday, the U.S. House approved 219-209 several Senate changes to the legislation.
The Washington Post reported that the budget plan will allow for House committees to begin working on the Biden administration s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she aims to pass the Biden administration s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package within two weeks â before the expirations of the two programs.
In yet another sign of turmoil at the N.C. Division of Employment Security, officials announced this week the division overpaid more than $69 million in unemployment benefits last year.
The pandemic causes a sharp spike in claims in 2020, with nearly a third of workers filing for unemployment. State and federal employment programs paid out more than $8 billion to North Carolinians last year.
NCDES Assistant Secretary Pryor Gibson told the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance on Tuesday, Jan. 26, that a combination of more money passing through the system and additional programs resulted in the overpayments. For example, $45 million of the overpayments came from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new federal program that provided the jobless with an additional $600 per week and included nontraditional claimants such as independent contractors.
Initial unemployment-insurance benefit claims in North Carolina dropped last week following a short wave of increases, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.