"...Meanwhile, skyrocketing claims continue to overwhelm state labor departments. Many state agencies are hiring additional workers and rushing to push out technology updates to tend to the applications.
Initial claims represent first-time applications for unemployment benefits, and not all of those applications result in people receiving benefits. As of the week ending April 4, about 12 million Americans were receiving benefits, according to the Department of Labor. That number is also at an all-time high. In contrast, at the height of the Great Recession, no more than 6.5 million workers were on unemployment benefits at any given time.
Soon, some states are also expected to run low on funding for unemployment benefits.
Six states — including New York, which has the highest number of cases in the US — can only fund up to 10 weeks of unemployment benefits from their state coffers before money runs out and they have to turn to the federal government for additional funding, according to a recent estimate from the Tax Foundation...
The cash crunch won't affect the millions of Americans currently applying for or receiving benefits -- they'll get their weekly checks regardless of their state's financial situation...
The federal government is footing the bill for the temporary $600 boost in weekly payments and short-term expansion of benefits to those affected by the coronavirus and the self-employed -- which is projected to cost about $250 billion.Many self-employed people and gig workers, however, have said they're struggling to access those benefits, however, because of processing delays and systems that were not equipped to handle applications from self-employed workers.
edition.cnn.com/2020/04/16/economy/...-coronavirus/index.html
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