More Than $140 Mil Paid Out in Unemployment This Past Week

Courtesy of Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

More than $140.3 million has been paid out to Hawai‘i residents in unemployment benefits this past week, officials reported Friday.

Of that $140,300,082 total, $83,776,600 of it includes the additional $600 made available by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, according to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR).

Additionally, the department paid out 139,628 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits during that same week.

“I am tremendously grateful for our workers as well as the volunteers working at the Hawai‘i State Library and Hawai‘i Convention Center,” said Scott Murakami, DLIR Director. “We know that there are still many in our community who are suffering and with the help of our sister departments, the Legislature, private sector partners and non-profits, we are resolute in providing a greater level of relief as soon as possible.”

Currently, there are 76 DLIR staff internally reallocated to process claims. Twenty-five volunteers from the Hawai‘i State Public Library System at the Hawaii State Library and 590 volunteers are trained and working at the Hawai‘i Convention Center processing claims and staffing the phone center.

The staffing phone center was set up at the convention over two weeks ago. As of Friday, it is now equipped with 280 workstations of which 270 have phones for calling.

Staffing at the Hawai‘i Convention Center includes two shifts Monday through Saturday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with phone center hours from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m.