Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler has been under fire the past few months regarding payment of unemployment benefits and has even drawn a Republican primary opponent in the 2022 election. But late last week it was announced that Georgia ranked second in the Southeast Region in April 2021 in paying unemployment insurance benefits to claimants timely — only behind Mississippi who processes a quarter of the claims Georgia processes.
According to the report, Georgia ranks second in the nation among the top 10 states by population for processing claims in categories less than 21 days. In both the Southeast Region and the Top 10 states by population, Georgia outpaced the United States total.
“We are focused on paying eligible claimants accurately and on time,” said Butler. “We have continued to rank in the top states in the nation every month for benefit timeliness furthering our commitment to provide support for Georgians bridging the gap between employment.”
Butler’s office announced that the GDOL has processed 4,853,003 regular unemployment insurance (UI) claims since March 21, 2020, more than the last 10 years prior to the pandemic combined (4.8 million). GDOL has paid over $22 billion in state and federal benefits in the past 63 weeks. Last week, the GDOL issued $182 million in benefits, which included regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and State Extended Benefits.
Recently, Butler announced that GDOL will return to “pre-pandemic, state unemployment operations,” later this month — which means changes for those receiving and expecting unemployment benefits. Among the biggest changes — effective June 27 Georgia will no longer participate in the federal unemployment programs enacted through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. Claimants are being encouraged to register with EmployGeorgia before weekly work search is mandated in late June to avoid interruptions in their payments.
Currently, there are over 226,000 jobs listed on EmployGeorgia for Georgians to access. EmployGeorgia uses artificial intelligence to match an individual’s skills to potential jobs. Claimants receive access to job listings, support to upload up to five searchable resumes, job search assistance, career counseling, skills testing, job fair information, job training services, and accessibility and special accommodations for people with disabilities and veterans transitioning back into the workplace.
