DOL Says 44 States Paying $600 Weekly Boost in Virus Jobless Aid

Nearly all states are now paying jobless benefits seekers an additional $600 weekly unemployment insurance supplement created in a recent virus relief package, but only seven states have started paying any benefits to independent contractors affected by Covid-19, a Labor Department spokeswoman told Bloomberg Law.

Forty-four states have started making the $600 payments on top of regular unemployment compensation, the spokeswoman said Tuesday afternoon. That’s up from 29 states on April 15, a sign that states are gradually overcoming some of the challenges in implementing new jobless benefits programs while simultaneously processing more than 22 million overall new claims ...