Boost in unemployment benefits coming

Alaska has received another $62 million in federal funding to increase by $300 the unemployment checks for thousands of qualified residents. The increase is expected to last about six weeks.

Those eligible will receive the addition $300 payment for each week filed if they are eligible to receive at least $100 or more of weekly state unemployment benefits, and are unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19 related issues, state labor officials said.

The Lost Wages Assistance payment funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be distributed to eligible individuals once programming is completed. Payments will be made to regularly covered unemployment insurance recipients and the self-employed, they said.

As of mid-September, there were about 60,000 filers, about 20,000 of whom are self-employed, said Cathy Munoz, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The additional funds, expected to go out in October, will last about six weeks, she said.

Since the pandemic began infecting people in Alaska in March the state has paid out some $770 million in federal and state unemployment benefits, she said.

Advertisement