California unemployment: State gets federal funds to pay additional $300 per week in benefits

Millions of out-of-work Californians will soon be able to receive an additional $300 in unemployment benefits.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KABC) -- Millions of out-of-work Californians will soon be able to receive an additional $300 in unemployment benefits.

The announcement comes after the federal government approved the state's application for funding for the Lost Wages Assistance Program.
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The additional funds will be available for weeks of unemployment dating back to Aug. 1, according to a press release.

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The White House says it hopes to have a timeline for when people could get the money sometime this week.

Meanwhile, the state's unemployment agency is not answering 60% of the calls it receives for help as the state struggles to work through a backlog of more than 1 million pending claims.



Employment Development Director Sharon Hilliard told a panel of frustrated state lawmakers on Monday that California is on pace to have 3,700 people working in its call center by January.
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That's compared to the 350 it had working before the pandemic. Hilliard said the state is receiving about 6.7 million calls a week.

The state has processed 10.6 million unemployment claims since March and paid more than $67 billion in benefits.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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