The U.S. Department of Labor is awarding $20.5 million to a handful of states to expand access to their unemployment insurance systems, the latest wave of funding released by the Biden administration aimed at strengthening the jobless aid safety net.
The recipients—Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia—will use the cash to provide more information to workers about their eligibility for benefits and ensure benefits are delivered quickly, issues that have historically plagued the federal-state unemployment insurance system and were compounded by the pandemic.
Michele Evermore, senior policy adviser on jobless aid for DOL’s Employment and Training Administration, said ...