Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development will on Friday begin distributing an additional $300 per week in jobless benefits to eligible people, the department announced on Wednesday.
The increased payments, which come from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program for lost wages, are for filers who were eligible for at least $100 in weekly unemployment in benefits from the week ending Aug. 1, through Sept. 5, according to the department.
Patsy Westcott, director of the department’s Division of Employment and Training Services, said an estimated 35,000 Alaskans are expected to benefit, the Associated Press reported. Payments will be retroactive to the covered period and made one week at a time, according to a Department of Labor and Workforce Development webpage that answers common questions about the program. The program is expected to last about six weeks.
“As the leader of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, I am pleased that this funding is now ready to be disbursed at a critical time to help Alaskans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Department of Labor Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter in a news release.
The announcement that payments will start comes after weeks of waiting and multiple delays. The state initially said payments would begin within six to eight weeks of the mid-September announcement of the program, and in mid-October, Department of Labor Deputy Commissioner Cathy Muñoz told the Empire the increased payments were expected to start the week of Oct. 19.
State officials attributed the delays to technical problems and a need to meet requirements to account for and report the increased payments apart from its usual jobless aid payments.
“This has been a challenging time like no other, and we are committed to helping Alaskans with the tools needed to be successful,” Ledbetter said in the release. “If you are out of work or interested in exploring new career opportunities and training, please connect with the Department’s Reemployment Services. Alaska Job Center Network is reporting job openings across all industries with higher demand in the health care, education, retail and seafood industries.”
• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt
