While the full extent of such fraud may never really be known with any certainty, the estimate accounts for between 11 percent and 15 percent of the total amount of unemployment benefits paid during the pandemic, the GAO said.
The period examined was between April 2020 and May 2023, the end of the public health emergency. So far, only $1.2 billion in fraudulent payments has been recovered by states, the GAO report said.
As of May 1, states reported overpayments in both fraudulent and non-fraudulent claims totaling $55.8 billion, of which about $6.8 billion has been recovered.
The Department of Labor expressed concern that the total figures estimated by the GAO are overstated, a claim the GAO disagreed with.
The GAO said it has made 26 recommendations to the Labor Department since 2018 to improve the unemployment insurance program, but the department has yet to fully implement 16 of them.
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