Thousands of Georgians Reapplying for UI Benefits Due to End of Benefit Year

Although businesses are starting to return to full capacity as more individuals receive vaccinations, many Georgians are still out of work due to the pandemic.

Last year at this time, almost 400,000 individuals filed an unemployment insurance (UI) claim and those claimants are now reaching the end of their benefit year.

Those who filed an individual claim and have reached the end of the 52-week period allowed for benefits and will need to refile a claim to reopen his/her benefit year reporting any additional work history, including temporary, part-time, self-employment, or W-2 work.

Once the new regular UI claim is processed, claimants who are unable to establish a valid regular UI claim will be placed back into the appropriate federal CARES Act program for benefits to continue.

“This was the week last year where we saw the biggest spike in UI claims,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “The increase in claims this year is not as severe as we encountered in 2020, but the numbers are still substantially elevated from claims numbers prior to the pandemic. The good news for those still unemployed after a year is there are a record number of job listings on Employ Georgia in many different markets across the entire state.”

Today, more than 226,000 job listings are online at https://employgeorgia.com/ for Georgians to access. These listings could include multiple positions for each job indicating a much higher number of jobs available.

Additionally, Butler reminds Georgians that the Department of Labor offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume, and assisting with other reemployment needs.

For more information on jobs and current labor force date, visit the Georgia Labor Force Market Explorer at https://bit.ly/3ayIPjd to view a comprehensive report.