White House Releases More Unemployment Insurance as Jobless Rate Ticks Up
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday the economy lost another 345,000 jobs in May and sent the national unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, the highest rate since 1983.
Also Friday, the Labor Department released $7 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to the states for unemployment insurance (UI) modernization incentives.
Georgia is set to receive $220.3 million of the total.
“Georgia has made important updates to its UI program to better meet the needs of the 21st century workforce,” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a statement. “œThe UI modernization provisions adopted in Georgia help unemployed workers who have entered the workforce recently, work part time, or need training to become re-employed receive the benefits they need and deserve.”
Using the UI funds, the Georgia Department of Labor can pay unemployment benefits or, if appropriated by the legislature, for administering its unemployment insurance program or delivering employment services.