The Georgia Department of Labor paid over $857 million dollars in state and federal unemployment benefits during the week preceding Independence Day.

“We are paying more Georgians more benefits than we ever have before,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.  Commissioner Butler added, “No one would have imagined in the same year we experienced our lowest monthly number of claims since 1975 that we would pay almost three years’ worth of benefits in one week.”

Initial claims have been trending down for the last ten weeks.

Information on filing an unemployment claim and resources for other reemployment assistance can be found on the agency’s webpage at dol.georgia.gov.