The Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) today announced that nearly 54,000 Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments totaling over $42M were issued the week of August 24 through August 28, providing benefits to eligible Montanans.
That figure includes regular UI benefits, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits, Extended Benefits, and the new Lost Wages Assistance supplement. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) payments shown below were issued for weeks claimed and not previously approved between UI weeks ending April 4 through July 25, 2020. The UI week ending July 25, 2020, was the last full week the extra $600 was authorized under the federal CARES Act.
The distribution of the $400/week LWA payments for eligible regular UI claimants began on August 25. The below figures include retroactive LWA payments to eligible claimants for the UI Benefit weeks ending August 1, August 8, August 14, and August 22. DLI will begin issuing retroactive LWA payments to eligible PUA claimants today.
Below is a data breakdown of outgoing UI payments for the week of August 24 through August 28:
|
Date Payment Distributed |
Regular UI Payment |
Reg. UI & PEUC FPUC Benefits |
PUA Payments |
PUA-FPUC Payments |
PEUC Benefits |
Extended Benefits |
LWA Benefits |
Total Payments |
Total # of Payments |
|
24-Aug |
$4,111,356 |
$235,800 |
$62,883 |
$59,438 |
$641,566 |
$13,503 |
$5,135,948 |
16,637 |
|
|
25-Aug |
$691,902 |
$97,200 |
$981,957 |
$180,232 |
$80,657 |
$2,157 |
$8,800 |
$2,042,643 |
6,532 |
|
26-Aug |
$460,700 |
$86,400 |
$241,421 |
$231,000 |
$75,639 |
$918 |
$31,282,800 |
$32,379,607 |
26,577 |
|
27-Aug |
$609,185 |
$114,000 |
$121,954 |
$85,828 |
$40,415 |
$4,247 |
$251,200 |
$982,236 |
1,457 |
|
28-Aug |
$661,420 |
$413,400 |
$190,898 |
$202,420 |
$42,902 |
$5,010 |
$364,000 |
$1,773,506 |
2,510 |
|
Total |
$6,534,563 |
$946,800 |
$1,599,113 |
$758,918 |
$881,179 |
$25,835 |
$31,906,800 |
$42,313,940 |
53,713 |
The above figures do not represent the number of individuals who have received payment. Individual claimants could have multiple payments in that total, or one payment representing multiple weeks’ worth of benefits.
DLI continues to encourage anyone who believes they may be eligible for UI to file a claim online at MontanaWorks.gov, or at mtpua.mt.gov for those that fall under the PUA eligibility guidelines. Those with technical, eligibility, or benefits questions are encouraged to view the COVID-19 resource website at dli.mt.gov/covid-19. A variety of information for both Montana workers and employers are available, in addition to resources to help claimants navigate the unemployment process.
A landing page for easy access to relevant Labor Market Information, including UI claims data, is available here: dli.mt.gov/labor-market-information.
