A Fulton County grand jury has indicted eight former state employees on unemployment insurance fraud charges.
Prosecutors say the eight submitted false claims and weekly certifications to the Georgia Department of Labor during the COVID-19 pandemic to receive unemployment insurance benefits when employed by the state. According to the State of Georgia Office of the Inspector General, the eight received $170,931 in unemployment insurance benefits and federal supplements.
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For the seventh straight month, Georgia’s unemployment rate remained at 3.1%, 0.5% below the national average in February.
The Georgia Department of Labor says the Peach State in January had the highest labor force participation rate in the Southeast at 61% and also had the highest employment-to-population ratio in the region, 59.1%.
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Georgia’s regional commissions reported higher unemployment in January but the labor force grew in all but one of the state’s regions, according to numbers released on Thursday.
The Georgia Department of Labor says it is an annual trend for unadjusted unemployment rates to increase in January after the end of the holiday season.
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Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced on Thursday that the unemployment rate for the Peach State in May dipped to an all-time low of three percent as the number of jobs peaked at 4,782,400.
“As the state continues to experience a very tight labor market, as evidenced by our low unemployment rate, our focus has been on encouraging more individuals to re-enter the workforce,” Butler said. “Unless those who have chosen not work decide they want to re-enter the workforce or more people move into the state, additional workers will be scarce.”
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More than two dozen Georgia lawmakers want the state’s Department of Labor to stop garnishing the tax refunds of Georgians who are appealing possible Unemployment Insurance benefit overpayments.
More than 30 state legislators sent a letter Friday to Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, asking the department to stop the garnishments and return the garnished wages until the appeals are resolved.
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Georgia’s net tax collections in December totaled $2.98 billion, for an increase of $582.9 million, or 24.3 percent, compared to December 2020 when net tax collections totaled $2.40 billion, state officials announced this month. “Year-to-date, net tax revenue collections totaled $14.85 billion, for an increase of $2.28 billion, or 18.1 percent, over FY 2021 after six months,” according to Governor Brian Kemp’s office.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) Commissioner Mark Butler announced Thursday that the state now employs the highest number of Georgians ever, surpassing the number of employed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by more than 3,000. Butler announced the news in a Thursday press release.
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Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.1 percent in October, the lowest rate in Georgia’s recorded history. This, according to Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) Commissioner Mark Butler in an emailed press release Thursday.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) officials announced this week that Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.2 percent in September. GDOL officials said in an emailed press release that this is an all-time low for Georgia, dipping below the rate of 3.3 percent in January 2020. The number of employed people rose above 5 million for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, while the number of unemployed was reported at 161,786, the lowest level since June 2001.
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Georgia taxpayers spent more than $1.1 million so that state Department of Labor (DOL) employees could eat meals — free of charge to them — during a 15-month period. This, according to a new report from the Office of the State Inspector General (OIG).
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Five Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly said that the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) has created a program that could put them and other state legislators in legal jeopardy. GDOL spokeswoman Kersha Cartwright said Friday that this Legislative Portal Access pilot program gives legislators and members of their respective staffs access to certain unemployment information. Legislators may use this information to act on behalf of their constituents. But each constituent must grant his or her consent first, Cartwright said.
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Georgia has a lower percentage of unemployed residents now than it did immediately before COVID-19 arrived, with some locales, like Warner Robins, experiencing their lowest jobless rates ever.
In Sept. 2020, around six months after the pandemic hit, the small city just south of Macon had a 5.3-percent jobless rate. Two months ago, Warner Robins’s rate fell to 2.9 percent, the city never before having seen such a small fraction of its residents out of work.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) officials have announced they will require people who receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits on or after December 27 of last year to provide proof of employment or self-employment. Those people must also show a valid officer to begin employment and proof of wages by August 14.
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Georgia’s unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia Department of Labor officials said this week.
The state’s unemployment rate in June was 4%; three times lower than what it was at the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020. Georgia’s unemployment rate was 3.1% in February 2020.
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Georgia officials announced Friday that the state’s unemployment rate had dropped for the 13th straight month from 4.3 percent in April to 4.1 percent for the month of May. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, however, said more pressing matters remain.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) officials have announced they will reinstate the unemployment insurance requirements they had in place before COVID-19. This, according to a press release that GDOL officials published late last week.
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Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) officials announce this week that the state’s unemployment rate dropped another 0.2 percentage points to reach 4.3 percent in April. Last month, Georgia reported the lowest unemployment rate among the 10 most-populated states.
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Officials with the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) reported this week that exactly 99.4 percent of all eligible claimants with a benefit year beginning in March 2020 until the present day who have requested a payment have received one.
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Officials with the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) reported this week that exactly 99.4 percent of all eligible claimants with a benefit year beginning in March 2020 until the present day who have requested a payment have received one.
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Georgia Department of Labor officials said claims the agency caused a delay that could harm the state’s financial rating are inaccurate.
Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said the state could be at risk of losing its AAA rating if the state auditor doesn’t receive additional documents from the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) to complete the state’s end-of-year comprehensive financial report.
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Georgians are circulating petitions demanding that the state government, particularly the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) begins responding to their requests for information.
“This petition was started and organized by residents all throughout the State of Georgia that have filed claims with the Georgia Department of Labor,” says a Change.org petition started by Felicia Primus. “Many of Georgia Residents [sic] haven’t received any updates on claims or they’re missing payments from the Department of Labor. GDOL has not provided better Self-service [sic] options for its website or phone support to help with the increasing demand of unemployment claims, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Six unemployed Georgians are suing the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) for its failure to process their unemployment claims.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Georgia, Lisa English was a contracted bookkeeper for a retail company in Fulton County. She was laid off for eight weeks because of the public health shutdowns and applied for unemployment benefits.
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