(The Center Square) – California’s unemployment insurance fund is “structurally insolvent” due to $55 billion in fraud and overpayment during COVID-19 crisis, leading to a growing $21 billion unemployment benefits loan from the federal government the state is unable to pay down.
While the state seeks loan forgiveness from the Acting United States Secretary of Labor, who was California’s Secretary of Labor during the COVID-19 era and oversaw the state’s fraudulent payments — including nearly $1 billion to felons in prison filling out fraudulent paperwork — California Democrats have proposed quintupling unemployment insurance taxes and nearly doubling unemployment benefits.
In 2020 California borrowed $17.8 billion to continue payments from its unemployment insurance fund, a number that is projected to reach $20.8 billion by the end of 2024 due to insufficient payments. With unemployment projected to grow from 804,000 Californians in 2022 to 930,000 Californians by 2025, benefits payments are projected to grow
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