An Extra $600 Per Week In Unemployment Pay Is Here

Now 460,000 jobless in the state, they will see the extra cash beginning with this week’s claims.

A $600 weekly boost will be applied to Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance payments beginning this week.

The program, made possible as part of the $2 trillion federal coronavirus aid package, will boost the maximum weekly unemployment payout in Wisconsin to just under $1,000 pre-tax. The extra $600 will retroactively apply to each week of unemployment already received from April 4 onwards, and the program will last through July 25, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

Claimants do not need to perform any extra application. The bonus will be applied automatically.

More than 460,000 Wisconsinites have applied for unemployment benefits since March 15, according to DWD data through Sunday. Unemployment claims are slowing down, dropping from as many as 24,000 in a single day to just under 6,000 last Friday, but last year’s daily claims for the same dates were under 1,000 the vast majority of the time.

The Legislature waived the one-week waiting period as part of its coronavirus relief package, and retroactive payments have begun for claimants.

Nationwide, claims have surpassed 26 million since March 15, according to federal Labor Department data. As coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on businesses, unemployment could reach as high as 47 million workers, or 32 percent, according to federal estimates.

Meanwhile, essential workers are suffering as huge outbreaks begin to crop up in meatpacking plants across Wisconsin. Three facilities in Brown County are fueling massive virus growth there.
Coronavirus cases in Wisconsin are nearing 6,000, and deaths 300, according to Department of Health Services data. More than 54,000 Americans have died and there are nearly 1 million infected, accounting for nearly a third of global cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.