Evaluation Memorandum: Tracking the Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Response to Local Communities During the Pandemic (DOL…

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An evaluation memorandum dated July 10, 2023 from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's Assistant Inspector General for Audit to the Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Report Number 19-23-007-03-315. It supports the first phase of a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee review of pandemic funds sent to six local communities. The memorandum describes the pandemic unemployment insurance programs FPUC, PUA, PEUC, TFFF and MEUC. For March 27, 2020, through September 6, 2021, the OIG reports more than 33,400 UI beneficiaries across the 6 communities who received over $516 million. Table 1 gives benefits by program, totaling $516,048,856, with FPUC at $323,248,650.

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U.S. Department of Labor 
Office of Inspector General 
 
 
 
Washington, DC 20210 
 
Working for America’s Workforce 
July 10, 2023 
 
 
 
MEMORANDUM FOR: 
BRENT PARTON 
 
 
 
 
Acting Assistant Secretary 
 
 
 
 
  for Employment and Training 
 
                                       
 
                                    
FROM: 
 
 
CAROLYN R. HANTZ 
 
 
 
 
Assistant Inspector General  
  for Audit 
 
SUBJECT: 
Tracking the Department of Labor’s 
Unemployment Insurance Response to Local 
Communities During the Pandemic 
 
Report Number: 19-23-007-03-315 
 
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC)1 led a two-phased 
review to identify the federal pandemic funds distributed to local communities2 
across the United States as of September 30, 2021, and determine if the 
spending of the funds aligned with program goals. In support of this review, the 
Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an evaluation of the Department of 
Labor’s (DOL) unemployment insurance (UI) response to the COVID-19 
pandemic. 
 
We specifically evaluated the DOL programs that expanded UI benefits for 
workers who were impacted the pandemic. The programs were initiated by the 
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on 
March 27, 2020, and concluded on September 6, 2021. Our evaluation included 
any benefits that claimants received from these programs, as reported by the 
states. These programs were selected based on federal spending research and 
program funding amounts. 
                                            
1 The PRAC was created by the CARES Act to support and coordinate independent oversight of 
more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief programs and spending. For more information, visit: 
https://www.PandemicOversight.gov/. 
2 The PRAC selected six locations for review across three types of geographic areas (two small-
to-medium sized cities, two rural counties, and two Tribal areas). 

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To conduct this review and measure the federal government’s pandemic 
response, the PRAC selected3 six communities of different sizes and geographic 
areas from across the country: Springfield, Massachusetts; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; 
Marion County, Georgia; Sheridan County, Nebraska; White Earth Reservation in 
Minnesota; and Jicarilla Apache Reservation in New Mexico.  
 
To complete our review, we evaluated the CARES Act, Continued Assistance to 
Unemployed Workers Act of 2020, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, 
Employment and Training Administration (ETA) guidance, Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA) guidance, and state agreements. We analyzed 
DOL pandemic-related UI program funding to the designated communities based 
upon USAspending.gov data, PandemicOversight.gov data, ETA – Office of 
Unemployment Insurance public data, state-reported data, and correspondence 
with ETA. We also analyzed summary data available from the states on UI claims 
and funding. Additionally, we assessed UI payments to individuals in the 
designated communities based upon UI claims data transfers from State 
Workforce Agencies to the OIG. The OIG conducted this review in accordance 
with the “Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation” issued by the Council 
of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. 
 
This memorandum applies only to our work conducted in the first phase of the 
PRAC review, which focused on identifying the UI program funding provided to 
local communities to help them respond to the pandemic. For additional 
information on federal pandemic funds provided to the 6 communities from DOL 
and 9 other participating federal agencies,4 see the PRAC’s report, “Tracking 
Pandemic Relief Funds that Went to Local Communities Reveals Persistent Data 
Gaps and Data Reliability Issues,” issued on July 6, 2023.5 
 
Identified Pandemic Funds for UI Programs 
 
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law with the intent of 
providing expanded UI benefits to workers who were unable to work as a direct 
result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic-related UI programs were later 
extended by the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 and 
the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which ended on September 6, 2021. 
                                            
3 To select the six local communities in the three geographic area definitions/types in the review, 
the PRAC employed a random selection process using several data sources. 
4 In addition to the Department of Labor, the other participating agencies were the Department of 
Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of 
Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, 
Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury, and the Small Business 
Administration. 
5 PRAC, Tracking Pandemic Relief Funds that Went to Local Communities Reveals Persistent 
Data Gaps and Data Reliability Issues, Report No. PRAC-2023-04 (July 6, 2023), available at: 
https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/media/file/practracking-pandemic-relief-fundsimpact-phase-
i0pdf. 

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All six communities implemented at least four pandemic UI programs that sought 
to assist workers impacted by the pandemic, including workers not usually 
eligible for benefits: Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), 
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency 
Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and Temporary Full Federal Funding of 
the First Week of Compensable Regular Unemployment (TFFF). One community 
also received funding from the Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation 
(MEUC) program. These programs and provisions are defined as follows: 
 
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. Under the CARES 
Act, the FPUC program provided a supplemental payment of $600 per 
week to individuals with at least one ($1) of underlying benefits from 
designated unemployment compensation programs6 until July 31, 2020. 
The program resumed under the Continued Assistance to Unemployed 
Workers Act of 2020 with supplemental payments of $300 per week and 
extended by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 until September 6, 
2021. 
 
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The PUA program extended UI 
benefits to individuals who were not traditionally eligible for UI benefits. 
This included self-employed workers, independent contractors, those with 
limited work history, and those who otherwise did not qualify for regular 
unemployment compensation or extended benefits under state or federal 
law or PEUC. With all the legislative extensions, claimants could receive 
up to 79 weeks of PUA payments. 
 
• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation. The PEUC 
program provided additional weeks of unemployment compensation to 
individuals who: exhausted their regular unemployment benefits under 
state or federal law; had no rights to regular unemployment compensation 
under any other state law or federal law; were not receiving compensation 
under the UI laws of Canada; and were able to work, available to work, 
and actively seeking work, while recognizing that states must provide 
flexibility in meeting the “actively seeking work” requirement. With all the 
legislative extensions, claimants could receive up to 53 weeks of PEUC 
payments. 
 
• Temporary Full Federal Funding of the First Week of Compensable 
Regular Unemployment. The TFFF provision provided federal funding for 
the first week of benefits if states did not have a waiting week provision in 
                                            
6 UI programs eligible for FPUC were regular UI, Unemployment Compensation for Federal 
Employees, Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers, Pandemic Emergency 
Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Extended Benefits, 
Short-Time Compensation, Trade Readjustment Allowances, Disaster Unemployment 
Assistance, and payments under the Self-Employment Assistance program. 

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their existing state UI laws or if states with a non-compensable waiting 
week agreed to waive the waiting week. Although states provided the total 
amount of UI benefits for claimants, the data provided by the states was 
insufficient to calculate the amount of TFFF benefits paid to individuals. 
 
• Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation. MEUC provided an 
additional $100 per week in supplemental benefits to individuals who (1) 
were receiving certain UI benefits and (2) received at least $5,000 of 
self-employment income in the most recent taxable year ending prior to 
the individual’s application for regular unemployment compensation. 
Individuals receiving PUA were not permitted to receive MEUC benefits. 
 
Under an agreement with DOL, State Workforce Agencies made UI payments to 
claimants, and DOL made funding available to cover the cost of the additional 
payments, ongoing administrative needs, and reasonable implementation costs. 
For the period of March 27, 2020, through September 6, 2021, the OIG identified 
more than 33,400 UI beneficiaries across the 6 communities; collectively, they 
received over $516 million7 (see Table 1). 
 
Table 1: Total Pandemic-Related UI Benefits in the Six Communities 
(March 27, 2020, through September 6, 2021) 
 
Program 
Total Benefits Paid 
Total  
Claimants 
Average Benefit 
Per Claimant 
FPUC 
$323,248,650 
33,329 
$9,699 
PUA 
$118,434,214 
7,893 
$15,005 
PEUC 
$74,352,092 
10,192 
$7,295 
MEUC 
$13,900 
4 
$3,475 
Total 
$516,048,856 
33,4338 
$15,435 
Source: OIG Data Analysis of State Workforce Agency Claims Data. 
 
We appreciate the cooperation of ETA, state, local, and reservation officials 
involved in this evaluation. If you have any questions regarding this 
memorandum, please contact Betty Norwood, Audit Director, via email at 
norwood.betty@oig.dol.gov. 
 
 
cc:  
Lenita Jacobs‐Simmons, Deputy Assistant Secretary for ETA 
Laura Watson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for ETA 
Jim Garner, Administrator, Office of Unemployment Insurance 
                                            
7 Although states provided the total amount of UI benefits for claimants, the data provided by the 
states was insufficient to calculate the amount of TFFF benefits paid to individuals. 
8 Individual claimants could receive benefits from multiple pandemic-related UI programs. 

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Subri Raman, Acting Administrator, Office of Grants Management 
Greg Hitchcock, Acting Deputy Administrator, Office of Grants 
Management 
Suzanne Simonetta, Chief, Division of Performance Management, Office 
of Unemployment Insurance 
Randall Denison, Oversight and Communications Coordinator, Office of 
Unemployment Insurance 
Chantel Sollers, Senior ETA OIG Liaison, Office of Grants Management 
Jakeia Griffin, ETA OIG Liaison, Office of Grants Management

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