Payments to NJ’s Unemployed Workers Surpass $19.7B

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has distributed $19.7 billion in unemployment benefits to workers across the state since COVID-19 upended businesses nine months ago, with claimants receiving an average of $13,890 in wage-replacement benefits.  

The Department received just over 17,000 new applications for unemployment during the week after Thanksgiving — a 26% rise from the prior week — which increased the number of New Jersey workers who have sought jobless benefits since mid-March to 1,840,172. A post-Thanksgiving week increase in new unemployment claims was also reported nationally. The national increase was 31.9%. 

Meanwhile, federal pandemic unemployment benefits authorized under the CARES Act will expire on Dec. 26, adversely affecting just under 500,000 New Jersey claimants. All eligible weeks prior to Dec. 26 will continue to be paid; federal law prohibits New Jersey from paying these benefits to workers for weeks beyond Dec. 26.  

“We know how much this is going to hurt New Jersey families just after the holidays, so we remain hopeful new federal legislation will be enacted to provide much-needed relief to our state’s workers and small businesses without delay,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo.  

A new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy expands eligibility for collecting extended unemployment benefits, making thousands of additional claimants eligible. The Labor Department will notify those who are eligible that they can begin certifying for the additional weeks. 

The Department distributed $230 million in benefits during the week ending Dec. 5, and has sent a total of $19.75 billion to workers impacted by the pandemic.   

Here are the week-by-week totals of new unemployment claims:  

Here is the breakdown of weekly benefits payments to eligible New Jersey workers: 

PUA, PEUC and FPUC were authorized by Congress under the CARES Act. The maximum eligibility for PUA is 46 weeks. PEUC provides an additional 13 weeks of federal benefits to those who exhaust 26 weeks of state unemployment. Extended Benefits (EB) adds a final 20 weeks of state benefits. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) provided $600/week unemployment supplement before expiring in July. LWA provided up to six weeks of supplemental benefits to people unemployed the weeks of Aug. 1 through Sept. 5 due to COVID.    

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.