ORLANDO, Fla. — Federal data shows the state of Florida has been earning money on its unemployment benefits funds, while slowly distributing the money to those families in need.
- Florida's unemployment fund has grown by $13.7 million in April
- NY, Calif. asking feds for $4B interest-free loan to help cover payouts
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Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said it has distributed $125 million to 94,909 people who have filed claims for unemployment benefits between March 15, 2020 and April 20, 2020.
That is a 14.2% payout rate on the more than 668,000 people who have applied for benefits in the same period of time.
Florida has one of the stingiest levels of benefits nationally, $275 per week for 12 weeks.
Those state benefits come out of an unemployment trust fund.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Florida ran through the month of March 2020 by adding $3 million to the fund, ending March with $4,076,442,840 in total funding.
In April so far, the state of Florida’s account has grown by another $13.7 million, where as some would expect the funding to decrease as benefits are paid out.
A review of the Treasury Department records shows Florida’s unemployment trust fund was at $4,076,442,840 at the start of April, and through April 16, 2020 it grew to $4,090,236,866.
The added revenue is likely from companies who are continuing to pay unemployment insurance.
Overall more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March.
The states of New York and California report they have seen 1.2 million claims and 2.7 million claims respectively.
The state of New York is asking the federal government for a $4 billion interest free loan to help cover payouts of those claims.
Treasury Department data shows California started April 2020 with $2.1 billion in their unemployment trust fund, which dwindled to $1.8 billion by April 16, the last date of available data.
New York’s unemployment trust fund went from $2.1 billion on April 1 to $1.2 billion on April 16.