The New York State Department of Labor says the federal government has approved three more weeks of the Lost Wages Assistance program.
The state says $300 in weekly benefits for weeks ending August 23, August 30 and September 6 will start being paid out next week. The Department says to receive the benefit, an applicant’s unemployment must be related to the COVID-19 pandemic. New York’s unemployment rate in August was 12.5 percent down from 15.9 percent in July.
The Vermont Department of Laboron Friday said it distributed $21.6 million to nearly 26,000 claimants through the LWA program for weeks ending August 1, August 8, and August 15. Vermont says it has submitted an application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an additional three weeks of payments. Vermont's unemployment rate in August was 4.8 percent, a drop from 8.3 percent in July.
The national unemployment rate in August was 8.4 percent, an improvement over July’s mark of 10.2 percent, but still more than double the August 2019 rate of 3.7 percent as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drag down the economy.