US DOL Unemployment Weekly Claims Report
| Seasonally Adjusted (SA) Initial Claims Volume | Change from Prior Week | Year over Year Change in SA Initial Claims Volume | Unadjusted Insured UI Rate | Insured UI Volume | Year over Year Change in
Insured UI Volume |
||
| 4/30/2022 | 200,000 | 19,000 | -317,000 | 4/23/2022 | 1.0% | 1,403,685 | -2,359,558 |
| 5/01/2021 | 517,000 | -57,000 | 4/24/2021 | 2.7% | 3,763,243 |
For more information, please visit https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20220827.pdf
COLORADO- Bill introduced to Pump money into State Trust Fund
- In an effort to pay off more than half of the debt that Colorado owes the federal government, Colorado lawmakers unveiled a bill to put $600 million into the state’s trust fund. The state owes $1 billion to the federal government. The legislative session ends in about 2 weeks and there is hope that this bill will pass both the house and senate before the end of the session.
IOWA- Bill passed that could reduce the duration of benefits
- The Iowa House and Senate passed a bill recently that could reduce the maximum duration of benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. Governor Kim Reynolds hasn’t signed this into law yet.
MINNESOTA – $2.7 Billion pumped into the State Trust Fund
- Governor Tim Walz signed a bill on April 29, 2022, that added $2.7 billion into the State’s Trust Fund and took other steps to reduce the tax rates for Minnesota employers. By May 9th, they will issue payments to the trust fund amounts equal to the sum of the outstanding loans an interest from the Federal trust fund. This action will ensure that MN does not have a federal credit reduction this year. In addition, MN changed the base rate from 0.50% to 0.10% and removed the 2022/2023 additional assessment (was 14.00%) and removed the 2022 special assessment for the federal interest loan (was 1.80%). The state expects that it will take about 2 weeks to recalculate the 2022 tax rates. If you already filed and paid your first quarter tax returns at the higher rate, the state will issue a credit that can be applied to future amounts due. Refunds can be requested but the state may take a few months to process those refunds.
MISSOURI- Bill passed that could reduce the duration of benefits
- The Missouri House of Representatives passed a bill recently that could reduce the maximum duration of benefits in periods of low unemployment to 8 weeks. Currently the shortest duration period is 13 weeks when the UI rate is below 6%. The new bill removes a week of benefits for every 0.5% change in the unemployment rate below 6%.
WASHINGTON– WA Cares fund delayed until July 2023
- Governor Inslee signed a bill earlier this year to delays parts of the WA Cares (long-term care coverage) program for 18 months. This is a reminder that if you began implementing the program, you should stop withholding WA Cares premiums from employee earnings and reimburse employees for WA Cares premiums within 120 days of the date premiums were collected. For more information, please visit https://wacaresfund.wa.gov/employers/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
