Governor Edwards announces the state has received the federal funding necessary to pay enhanced unemployment benefits to the tune of an extra 600 dollars a week on top of the state’s 247 dollars.
Edwards says the expanded benefits begin Monday and will now also include workers who did not previously qualify.
“This includes 1099, the salon, the gig, and the other self-employed workers who had a benefit coming through the pandemic unemployment assistance but that funding was not received until yesterday,” says Edwards.
The Governor implored people to fill out their unemployment form at Louisianaworks.net, but if possible between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM to avoid peak traffic.
The cash influx will be a big boon for the hundreds of thousands who’ve filed in the last month. Edwards says between March 1st and April 4th there’s been 277,000 claims filed.
“In contrast in all of 2019 the number of claims was 103,000,” says Edwards.
Edwards says the Louisiana Workforce Commission Trust Fund is being put to work, paying out 25.5 million dollars in benefits last week, and the federal funds will greatly increase that number.
“In a typical week before COVID-19 came to Louisiana the weekly benefits in the aggregate totaled about 2.3 million dollars,” says Edwards.
The enhanced benefits will be available until August.
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