Abstract

Federal lawmakers created major temporary unemployment benefit programs during the pandemic, which collectively distributed a record $700 billion to unemployed individuals nationwide. Little attention has been paid to wildly divergent state shares of that funding. A review of federal funding provided to states per member of the civilian labor force reveals massive gulfs between the highest- and lowest-funded states, stretching from a 10-to-one ratio under the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program to 62 to one under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Differing state benefit levels and unemployment rates explain some of those gaps, but other factors—such as varying degrees of fraud and abuse—likely also contribute.