The weekly unemployment benefit claim figures, which take the pulse of the US labor market, have been peppered with errors since the Covid-19 pandemic, a US government agency said Monday .
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These data, which compile information recorded by the state, have sometimes inflated and often underestimated the number of people applying for unemployment benefits, which no longer makes it a reliable gauge of unemployment, says the agency.
These findings from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a non-partisan congressional audit agency, are part of a report that examined the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Labor Department, which releases the data weekly, reported
"flawed estimates of the number of individuals claiming benefits since the pandemic,"
the GAO writes, warning that this is likely to hamper the ability of policymakers to provide effective responses to the economic crisis caused by the epidemic.
GAO says it does not know the full extent of the errors, no doubt due to the fact that there were already pre-pandemic claims in the system in several overwhelmed states.
The Department of Labor uses state figures to announce the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.
The audit agency also claims that the specific aid program created by Congress for unemployed people whose rights have expired or who are unable to claim state-level aid, pays beneficiaries less than these benefits. last should perceive.
The coronavirus pandemic, which comes with restrictions on economic activity, has forced many companies and SMEs to lay off their employees.
The total number of recipients of unemployment benefits or other assistance linked to job loss climbed in early November, to nearly 20.5 million people.