Wis. Department of Workforce Development Unemployment Insurance Division Has Disbursed More Than $290M in Unemployment Benefits Since March 15

MADISON, Wisconsin, April 30 -- The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development issued the following news release on April 29:

The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced that its Unemployment Insurance Division (UI) has received 479,596 applications and has distributed more than $290 million in state unemployment benefits since March 15, 2020.

Official counts available April 25 showed claimants have filed a record number of weekly unemployment claims, totaling almost 1.2 million (1,185,952) since the COVID-19 public health emergency was declared. Nearly 750,000 (747,855) of those weekly claims have been paid. The number of claims processed in this five-week period are roughly equivalent to claims processed in an eight-month period during typical (non-pandemic) times for the UI Division. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, Wisconsin was in the top quartile of states for most claims processed through the end of March.

"We hear from thousands of people every day who are struggling to pay bills and keep food on the table," DWD Secretary Caleb Frostman said. "Our collective sense of urgency could not be greater to process claims and resolve issues so out-of-work Wisconsinites can return to some semblance of economic normalcy. Hundreds of DWD staff are working overtime to process claims, integrate new federal programs, disburse benefits, answer questions, and update IT and telecom processes to help as many people as possible during this unprecedented time."

In addition to processing state unemployment benefits, DWD is implementing the three new federal benefit programs created under the CARES Act last month. The Department began accepting applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance last week, began distributing Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments today, and will announce Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits in May.