New Analysis Finds Some States Lag Far Behind Others in Unemployment Payouts

More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic began, but many states are "too slow" in providing benefits to those without jobs, a new report finds.

Recent research by The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, found that the percentage of paid unemployment claims jumped from 14% at the end of March to 47% by the end of April. They accelerated even more in May, totalling $71.5 billion for the first three weeks of the month compared to $48.4 billion during the same timeframe in April.

Despite the progress, researchers found there were "major delays" in benefits processing.

Some states stand out as being especially slow in providing unemployment benefits. In March and April, four states – Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and Delaware – had paid less than 5% of their initial claims. Minnesota and Montana even initiated fewer first payments in April than in March, but "it is possible that there are data and reporting issues with these states," according to the report.

Other states have been slow as well. Georgia and Florida have provided unemployment relief to fewer than a third of people who have applied. Arizona, Hawaii and Nebraska similarly paid out less than 1-in-3 claims by April.

Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and co-author of the report, which was based on data from the Department of Labor, says there is a correlation between states that are "traditionally stingy" when it comes to unemployment claims and the ones that have been slow in paying out benefits during the crisis. But delays are happening everywhere and the process has been "oddly erratic" overall, he says.

"There's no state where workers aren't complaining about the delay, because it's much longer than it typically takes to get benefits and very hard to get answers," Stettner says.

Stettner says that it will be important for states to address the backlog moving forward, even with the possibility that "some portion of a week will probably never be paid" as some people return to work without following up on back pay owed to them. He does see the findings as "half empty, half full," with payments increasing in May and the positive impact of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program under the CARES Act, which provides new aid to unemployed Americans through Dec. 31.

"A lot of people are getting these benefits, just not enough," Stettner says.