The Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) today announced that just under 40,000 Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments totaling over $12.5M were issued the week of November 30 through December 4, providing benefits to eligible Montanans. The new $200 weekly Interim Pandemic Assistance (IPA) benefit, available for a four-week period, accounted for over one-quarter of the weekly total paid.
Other payments included regular UI benefits, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits, and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. 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. Due to the decline in Montana’s insured unemployment rate, Extended Benefits triggered off as of UI benefit week ending November 14. EB payments shown below were issued for weeks claimed and not previously approved.
Below is a data breakdown of outgoing UI payments for the week of November 30 through December 4:
|
Date Payments Distributed |
Regular UI Benefits |
Reg UI & PEUC FPUC Payments |
PUA Benefits |
PUA-FPUC Payments |
IPA Payments |
PUA IPA Payments |
PEUC Benefits |
Extended Benefits |
Total Payments - $ |
Total # of Payments |
|
30-Nov |
$2,608,216 |
$60,000 |
$224,680 |
$84,817 |
- |
- |
$977,544 |
$16,415 |
$3,998,973 |
11,541 |
|
1-Dec |
$532,856 |
- |
$1,721,330 |
$202,961 |
$1,624,800 |
$1,267,300 |
$143,749 |
$2,779 |
$5,460,476 |
22,436 |
|
2-Dec |
$540,837 |
- |
$453,103 |
$114,854 |
$70,000 |
$133,800 |
$86,211 |
$2,997 |
$1,200,939 |
2,512 |
|
3-Dec |
$441,383 |
- |
$404,771 |
$227,556 |
$50,800 |
$82,800 |
$68,075 |
$4,198 |
$1,117,114 |
1,796 |
|
4-Dec |
$377,275 |
$9,600 |
$325,137 |
$140,182 |
$36,000 |
$60,200 |
$57,594 |
$955 |
$918,651 |
1,299 |
|
Total |
$4,500,567 |
$69,600 |
$3,129,021 |
$770,370 |
$1,781,600 |
$1,544,100 |
$1,333,173 |
$27,344 |
$12,696,153 |
39,584 |
The total number of payments does not represent the number of people who received payment. IPA payments are distributed separate from regular UI benefits and drove the two-fold increase in number of payments over the prior week.
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.
