A record number of Georgia residents have filed for unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.  That has meant that the Georgia Department of Labor has had to process a record number of unemployment benefits over the past several weeks.  Up until last week, Georgia residents who were drawing unemployment were not seeing the extra $600 per week promised by the Federal government.

The Georgia Department of Labor said last week that many unemployed Georgia workers began to see the money arrive in their bank accounts.  Some have received all of the $600 weekly payments, others only a partial amount.  That’s because the Department of Labor is having to go back and manually enter the Federal payments for those who qualify.  With the large volume of people getting unemployment benefits – that is a daunting task that is taking time.

Also, the state was unable to transfer the full $400 million from the Federal government in one bank transfer, which further slowed down the payments to unemployed workers.

Typically, once the Georgia Department of Labor makes a transfer to an account, it appears within 24-48 hours.

Georgia Department of Labor spokeswoman Kersha Cartwright told WXIA TV, “We apologize for that delay and we have modified our system to allow for larger payments to accommodate future $600 supplemental payments as well as the regular weekly benefit payment,” Cartwright said.