The Status of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief

One thousand four hundred and eighty-eight applications for the COVID-19 unemployment relief programme have been processed and approved but about five hundred have been disbursed. The number of applications up to Monday morning was forty-four thousand, and with a little less than one thousand five hundred processed, this would be just three point four percent of all applications have been approved in under a week. In the public’s eyes, the number processed seem low, especially during a time when many are not working and are desperately awaiting that aid. We asked Dr. Carla Barnett of the Economic Oversight Committee why the number of processed applications was so low. She said that this is “quite a bit faster than a manual system with reams of paper would be.” Barnett also noted that the applications were received less than a week ago and that the information must be verified. She points out that social security numbers, dates of unemployment and other data in the system must be properly reviewed. Barnett notes that errors while inputting data slowed down the process. So, those applications that have been approved were sent to the Social Security Board this morning to be disbursed today. Moving forward for those applicants, time of receipt of the monies in the account will vary according to financial institutions.  Barnett notes that Social Security Board’s role is to act only as a paying agent – and the verifications they would do will be with the financial institutions to, “verify that the numbers given to us by applicants are correct.”