State Has Issued $2.8 Billion in Unemployment Insurance Benefits Since March 1

State seal. Photo by Wendy Osher.

The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has updated its unemployment insurance claims information, including paying $2,829,332,666 and 2,737,142 weeks claimed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 1, 2020.

“We are still experiencing a significant increase of workers still attached to an employer being fully released from employment. These individuals will need to report the separation when filing a weekly claim certification. Claimants can review the correct way to do this at https://labor.hawaii.gov/ui/main/reactivate-your-claim-and-report-job-seperation/ before filing their weekly claim certification,” said Acting Director Anne Eustaquio.

• No. of claims filed statewide: 272,240
• No. of invalid claims filed statewide: -94,084
• No. of valid claims awaiting claimant to verify: -9,339
• No. of valid claims requiring DLIR action: 178,156
• No. of claims paid: 167,870
• No. of claims requiring DLIR action 8/19/20: 10,286

“The Department has worked to hone and refine Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) data to more strategically target those with pending claims as well as to evolve processing operations.” said Acting Director Eustaquio. “We have released about 10,700 PUA claims for payment in the last three weeks by using predictive analytics and other information to auto clear identity verification issues.”

The department has hired 49 staff to help process regular unemployment insurance claims since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The department is currently interviewing and hiring an additional 41 staff to process both regular unemployment insurance as well as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims.