Fraud was responsible for at least $1.55 billion in over-payments.
Michigan state Department of Human Services caseworker Sandy Satchel (foreground) works at the Family Independence Agency in Detroit last week. A stimulus spending watchdog group has found errors in the job creation numbers released last month by the Obama administration.Congress is not extending jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, but some have gotten a fair share more than they were legally eligible for.
Preliminary reports say that the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2009, made more than $7.1 billion in overpayments in unemployment insurance. This estimate is up from the $4.2 billion in 2008. The total amount of unemployment benefits paid in 2009 totals $76.8 billion compared to 2008’s $41.6 billion.
Fraud was responsible for $1.55 billion in overpayments last year. Beyond that, errors by state agencies could be responsible for $2.27 billion, according to the Labor Department. The final report will be released in August.
Some overpayments can be traced back to the spike in workloads facing state employment agencies during the recession, George Wentworth, a policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project, told ABC News.
“You've got a system that's been under siege like the unemployment insurance system has been for the last two years," Wentworth told ABC News. "You've got a lot of new staff coming into the system, there's been a lot of federal extensions [to unemployment insurance benefits] that have had to be programmed in and so on. There's just been a lot of change that states have had to handle. ... I just think the volume and the new staff have made the systems more susceptible to error."
Those who have been recently unemployed have stated that they are continuously frustrated when trying to reach out to state official for help when filling out their claims.
Wentworth told ABC News that it was fairly regular to see different states’ call centers reach maximum capacity where people would not be able to get through to speak to someone for hours or even days at a time.
More unemployment news:
»Wall Street Journal: States Struggle to Stem False Unemployment Claims
»CNBC: Futures get lift from drop in jobless claims
»Sun Herald: Labor Department officials visit to hear concerns about jobs