Monthly Archives: June 2020

Idaho Initiates Federal-State Extended Benefits

News Release

For Immediate Release: June 26, 2020
Media Contact: Darlene Carnopis, darlene.carnopis@labor.idaho.gov or Salvador Vazquez, salvador.vazquez@labor.idaho.gov

The Idaho Department of Labor is starting to notify unemployed workers who will exhaust extended benefits under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program that they can apply for additional benefits through the Federal-State Extended Benefit program.

Claimants must first exhaust all benefits available to them under the regular benefit program paid through the state and the PEUC program before they apply for Federal-State Extended Benefits.

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HP Contract Workers May Qualify for Training and Services under Trade Act

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 26, 2020
Media Contact: Darlene Carnopis, darlene.carnopis@labor.idaho.gov or Kathy Nesmith, kathy.nesmith@labor.idaho.gov

Employees of 30 companies working onsite at the Hewlett Packard Inc., Imaging, Printing and Solutions Business Group in Boise may be eligible for employment services under the Trade Act Assistance (TAA) program.

Those workers eligible to apply must have separated or partially separated from the HP group between June 27, 2018, and before April 20, 2022, and must have worked in the supply of imaging, printing and business solution services, including product development, at Hewlett Packard in Boise.

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Idaho’s Weekly Unemployment Initial Claims Increase from Previous Week

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 25, 2020
Media Contact: Salvador Vazquez, salvador.vazquez@labor.idaho.gov or Craig Shaul, craig.shaul@labor.idaho.gov

New initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits totaled 4,285 for the week ending June 20, increasing 18 percent – or 654 claims – from the previous week.

The four-week moving average declined 3 percent to an average of 3,879 new initial claims per week.

Continued claims – the number of people who requested a benefit payment – dropped by 10 percent from the previous week to 33,060, the seventh consecutive week of declines. The four-week moving average for continued claims also fell 12 percent from 48,068 for the week ending June 13 to 42,160 for the week ending June 20.

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Idaho Labor Department Takes Steps to Combat Fraud

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 19, 2020
Media Contact: Georgia Smith, georgia.smith@labor.idaho.gov or Darlene Carnopis, darlene.carnopis@labor.idaho.gov

Crime rings across the globe are exploiting the COVID-19 crisis by attempting to commit large scale fraud against multiple state unemployment insurance programs and Idaho is not exempt.

These crime rings possess substantial databases of stolen personally identifiable information which is used to submit a large volume of applications for unemployment benefits. Scammers use the names and addresses of Idaho residents, but then have payments sent to bank accounts in other states or have bank cards mailed to different addresses.

The Idaho Department of Labor uses many methods to flag potentially fraudulent claims and stop them from payment until the fraud team can review and confirm identity on the applications. Currently, the department has thousands of pending claims that have been identified as potentially fraudulent. About 45 percent of the claims flagged for identity theft turn out to be fraud.

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Idaho Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.9 Percent in May

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 19, 2020
Media Contact: Craig Shaul, craig.shaul@labor.idaho.gov or Karen Jarboe Singletary, karen.jarboesingletary@labor.idaho.gov

Note: This release includes revised labor market numbers provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. See below.*

Nonfarm jobs recover 3.5 percent

Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent in May, and non-farm payrolls regained 24,300 jobs as the state’s economy began a rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

May’s rate dropped from a revised record high of 11.8 percent in April, falling below former peak rates of 10.2 percent in December 1982 and 9.6 percent in June 2009 during the Great Recession.

Total employment increased 23,090 to 804,643, up 3 percent from April, while the number of unemployed Idahoans dropped by 24.2 percent, down 25,276 to 79,015.

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Idaho’s Weekly Initial Claims Decline Slightly from Previous Week

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 18, 2020
Media Contact: Salvador Vazquez, salvador.vazquez@labor.idaho.gov or Craig Shaul, craig.shaul@labor.idaho.gov

Record amount of $86 million paid out during the week of June 7-13

New initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits totaled 3,631 for the week ending June 13, decreasing 8 percent – or 322 claims – from the previous week.

The four-week moving average declined 12 percent to an average of 3,989 new initial claims per week.

Continued claims – the number of people who requested a benefit payment – dropped by 23 percent from the previous week to 36,764, the largest of six consecutive weeks of declines. The four-week moving average of 48,068 also fell 11 percent from the previous four-week average.

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Labor Department Makes Progress on Paying Backlog of Unemployment Claims

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 17, 2020
Media Contact: Georgia Smith, georgia.smith@labor.idaho.gov or Darlene Carnopis, darlene.carnopis@labor.idaho.gov

An executive order signed by Gov. Brad Little, temporarily easing some unemployment insurance eligibility requirements, has allowed the Idaho Department of Labor to increase the number of unemployment insurance claims being paid.

This and other measures have lowered pending claims from 42,000 to just over 20,000. The number of active individuals who had filed a claim but not yet received a payment dropped from more than 17,000 to 8,500 individuals as of June 16.

During the first 12 weeks since the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration, more than 2.5 times the total number of initial claims were filed than in all of 2019. Of the 149,227 initial claims filed, seventy-five percent were filed in the first five weeks. That created a huge backlog of claims. The department estimates the backlog of pending claims will be eliminated by the end of July.

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Labor Department Advises Idahoans to Watch for Identity Theft

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 12, 2020

Media Contact: Darlene Carnopis, Darlene.carnopis@labor.idaho.gov

The Idaho Department of Labor is reminding people to be alert for identity theft related to unemployment insurance claims.

Scammers are attempting to file claims by using the names and personal information of people who have not filed. If you are notified by the Labor Department that a claim has been filed under your name when you did not file the claim, send an email to fraud@labor.idaho.gov. Do not include personally identifiable information such as a Social Security number in the email.

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Idaho’s Weekly Initial Claims Maintain Steady Pace

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 11, 2020
Media Contact: Salvador Vazquez, salvador.vazquez@labor.idaho.gov or Craig Shaul, craig.shaul@labor.idaho.gov

New initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits totaled 3,953 for the week ending June 6, increasing 8 percent – or 307 claims – from the previous week.

The four-week moving average of new initial claims declined 9 percent to an average of 4,532 new initial claims per week.

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Workforce Experts to Discuss Benefits of Youth Apprenticeships in Online Event

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 9, 2020
Media Contact: Georgia Smith, georgia.smith@labor.idaho.gov or Gina Robison, gina.robison@labor.idaho.gov

Idaho businesses, educators and career counselors are encouraged to participate in Expanding Youth Apprenticeship in Idaho, a free virtual apprenticeship accelerator, June 18, 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. MT.

The web-based event will focus on how youth apprenticeship can help businesses develop a talent pipeline while providing youth with hands-on training and instruction leading to industry-recognized credentials and a career.

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