Another 24500 jobless claims filed in Maine last week - Press Herald

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Roughly 24,500 new state and federal jobless claims were filed in Maine last week as authorities continued to investigate widespread fraud within the state’s unemployment insurance system.

The new claims covered 16,500 individual Mainers seeking jobless insurance benefits, according to the Maine Department of Labor. The remaining 8,000 claims were duplicates, a product of overlap between traditional state unemployment insurance and federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance available to people not covered by the state system.

The number of initial claims and individual claimants both decreased from the previous week, when the state reported about 37,000 initial unemployment claims filed by 24,500 individuals.

Last week, the department of labor said a sharp increase in new claims was suspicious and could be the result of widespread fraud perpetrated by organized criminal groups.

Thousands of claims in Maine and other states across the country have been filed using personal information believed to be stolen in huge data breaches in recent years.

Maine had uncovered and canceled at least 2,200 fraudulent claims and was investigating at least 1,000 more as of last Wednesday.

“The Department of Labor is committed to maintaining the integrity of Maine’s unemployment system and, alongside our partners, fighting fraud and defending innocent Maine people from scammers trying to exploit them,” Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said Thursday in a statement.

Nationally, nearly 1.9 million claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week, the ninth straight decline since applications spiked in mid-March and a sign that the gradual reopening of businesses has slowed the loss of jobs across the country.

This story will be updated.

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1.9 million jobless claims filed last week, even as re-openings slow layoffs

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