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The
Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its latest report
that it continues to have concerns about overpayments and
potential fraud in the unemployment insurance (UI) system. The
government expanded unemployment benefit eligibility to people
who did not qualify for regular state unemployment insurance, to
cushion against the pandemic's economic shock.
The government-funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
program covers, among others, the self-employed and certain gig
economy workers. Funding for the program was included in the
pandemic relief packages passed during former President Donald
Trump's term and extended in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion
rescue package approved this month.
"As of March 15, 2021, DOL (the Department of Labor) reported
that states had identified more than $3.6 billion in PUA
overpayments from March 2020 through February 2021," the GAO
said.
The watchdog said the Labor Department was taking measures to
collect data on states' recovery of PUA overpayments. But the
GAO also noted that legislation enacted in December 2020
provided states with authority to waive certain PUA
overpayments.
"Thus, additional data on the amounts of PUA overpayments states
have waived are also needed to effectively monitor the recovery
of overpayments," it said. "GAO recommends that DOL collect data
from states on the amount of overpayments waived in the PUA
program, similar to the regular UI program."
Since the pandemic started, the unemployment insurance program
has been dogged by problems ranging from backlogs to fraud,
which economists say are keeping weekly unemployment claims
elevated. There were at least 7.735 million people on the
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in early March.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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