# Pandemic unemployment overpayments, by state and program

What the states told the Labor Department they overpaid, recovered and waived in the pandemic unemployment programs: 265 rows, one for each of 53 states and territories and each of five programs, built from the Department's own report files, with the per-state totals the Department printed in May 2026 beside them.

Published at https://pandemicdarlings.com/data/ui-pandemic-overpayments-by-state/ . Compiled table; not part of release pandemic-darlings-data-v1-2026-07-10. Built 2026-09-23.

## Files

| file | rows | bytes | sha256 |
|---|---|---|---|
| `ui-pandemic-overpayments-by-state.csv` | 265 | 64,051 | `726b0ea6d6527f74a6c8fc2301354d871ef188eb2648d1bc0ed4c3ef2d173137` |
| `ui-pandemic-overpayments-by-state-and-period.csv` | 8,861 | 924,822 | `74b947d01eb1169d3235df4579c4745c35874d314c9d624b6617fac1fccd21ed` |
| `dol-attachment-1-as-published.csv` | 162 | 26,169 | `01498be53ca538d5745c984dd79ec084591e93c8828a896e5244b2dc7645c889` |

`dictionary.csv` beside this file describes every column of the three tables: measured type, blanks, distinct values, range, example and meaning. `SHA256SUMS` carries the SHA-256 of every file in the folder.

## What this is

One row of `ui-pandemic-overpayments-by-state.csv` is one state and one program, added up over every report the state has filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The programs are Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) and the regular state program (UI). States report PUA overpayments monthly on the ETA 902P and the other programs quarterly on the ETA 227, one report per program.

Totals across the 53 jurisdictions, as the table adds them:

| program | established | of which fraud | recovered | waived | latest report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FPUC | $34,081,322,553 | $2,684,609,596 | $2,828,436,316 | $7,789,887,965 | 2026-06-30 |
| PUA | $23,497,387,773 | $2,391,843,375 | $2,154,979,107 | $5,397,474,788 | 2026-08-31 |
| PEUC | $3,571,945,282 | $398,498,229 | $595,611,410 | $596,775,521 | 2026-06-30 |
| MEUC | $8,648,426 | $337,149 | $731,233 | $817,288 | 2026-06-30 |
| UI | $13,379,625,788 | $1,561,788,567 | $3,867,981,835 | $685,334,527 | 2023-06-30 |

The UI line covers the quarters ending June 30, 2020 through June 30, 2023 only. The other lines cover every report filed.

`ui-pandemic-overpayments-by-state-and-period.csv` holds every report behind those sums: 8,861 rows, one per state, program and reporting period, with the regular program from the quarter ending March 31, 2020.

`dol-attachment-1-as-published.csv` is DOL's own table, Attachment I to Unemployment Insurance Program Letter (UIPL) No. 11-26 of May 18, 2026. It prints overpayments established and recovered, and the amount where recovery was waived, for FPUC, PUA and PEUC, "as reported by each state" from reports "submitted as of April 26, 2026". Each of its 162 rows is transcribed with the PDF page it is printed on, then recomputed from the report files.

## How it was built

The report files are DOL's ETA 227 files for the regular program, PEUC, FPUC and MEUC (`ar227.csv`, `ap227.csv`, `af227.csv`, `am227.csv`) and its ETA 902P file for PUA (`ap902.csv`), downloaded from DOL's data downloads page on 2026-09-23. Their columns are numbered (c1, c2, ...); what each number means comes from DOL's data map for these files (Employment and Training Handbook 402, section 4024c6) and, for the ETA 902P, from DOL's reporting instructions (UIPL 16-20, Change 6, Attachment IV).

Established, recovered, waived and written-off amounts are flows reported for each period, so the table adds them. Outstanding balances are stocks, so the table takes them from the latest report. FPUC and MEUC reports split each figure by the program the supplement was paid with (state UI, UCFE/UCX, Extended Benefits, PEUC, TRA, DUA, and for FPUC also PUA); the table adds those columns, as DOL's Attachment I does. The regular-program rows add the state UI, UCFE/UCX and Extended Benefits columns, as DOL's Attachment I does for PEUC.

To check the reading of the columns, Attachment I was recomputed from the same files, using DOL's own footnote formulas and only the reports dated on or before each state's "most recent report". 147 of 159 state figures match to the dollar. States revise and add reports: Florida revised its June 2022 PUA report between the downloads of September 18 and September 23, 2026. The other differences were not traced report by report.

## Before you quote a row

**These are the states' own reports, not audited findings.** DOL says in Attachment I that it "is actively engaged with states to reconcile financial reporting, including the reporting of overpayment detection and recoveries for the CARES Act programs, which may impact final reported amounts", and that "Some states may report more amount recovered than established."

**Established is not the size of the problem.** An overpayment counts here only once a state has determined it and notified the claimant. The DOL Office of Inspector General estimated that $118.1 billion in PUA, PEUC and FPUC overpayments should have been established from April 1, 2020 through September 30, 2022, against $36.9 billion the states reported for that period.

**The PUA totals here are lower than DOL's.** The ETA 902P has a total line (301) and a fraud line (302) that the instructions call a "sub-breakout" and say "should be equal to or less than line 301"; the identity-theft section has the same pair (401 and 402). The Attachment I footnote builds the PUA total from all four lines. This table counts each dollar once: total is 301 plus 401, fraud is 302 plus 402. Measured on the same reports and cut-off dates: $25,378,861,515 on DOL's formula, $23,075,642,476 on the report definitions (DOL printed $25,255,806,998). The difference, $2,303,219,039, is the size of the fraud lines. The printed PUA total appears to count those dollars twice: DOL's formula reproduces its printed figure for 49 of the 53 states. DOL has not been asked about it. In 22 monthly PUA reports from 4 states the fraud line is larger than the total it belongs to; the notes column flags them.

**Cases are not people.** One claimant can have cases in several programs and several periods.

**Figures change.** States revise earlier reports, and DOL regenerates the files. Quote a figure with the date of the files it comes from: 2026-09-23 for this table, April 26, 2026 for DOL's Attachment I.

**Some reports are missing.** DOL's files hold no FPUC or PEUC report for NJ, and no MEUC report for ID, NJ, RI, SD, TX. Attachment I prints $0 for New Jersey's FPUC and PEUC.

**The regular-program rows are not pandemic-specific.** They add every overpayment established in the regular program in the quarters ending June 30, 2020 through June 30, 2023, whatever the benefit week. Do not add them to the pandemic programs.

**Fraud means a state's fraud determination.** In every program most of the dollars established are nonfraud (see the totals above). The fraud columns are not an estimate of how much fraud there was; the estimates are in the unemployment fraud estimates table.

**Lost Wages Assistance is not here.** DOL's data downloads page, as retrieved on 2026-09-23, lists no Lost Wages Assistance overpayment report.

## What it does not measure

It does not measure the amount of fraud, only what states established. It does not count money recovered through criminal cases (restitution, forfeiture, seizures), or overpayments a state identified but has not determined.

## Citation

Pandemic unemployment overpayments, by state and program, compiled from U.S. Department of Labor ETA 227 and ETA 902P report files retrieved 2026-09-23 and UIPL No. 11-26, Attachment I (May 18, 2026).

## Rights

Compiled from U.S. government public data; attribution to Pandemic Darlings requested for the compiled table.