Missouri’s unemployed will again have to search for work to get benefits - News-Leader

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Austin Huguelet Springfield News-Leader

Published 9:00 PM EDT Jun 15, 2020

Missouri’s labor department will start requiring people filing for unemployment to search for work again next month as the state continues “re-opening” amid the pandemic.

The department stopped requiring work searches for coronavirus-related claims in March, but in a news release Monday, it said that break would end July 5.

That means most people applying for benefits, including self-employed individuals covered by a federal program, will soon need to document three “work-search activities” per week, which can include filing a job application or attending job fairs, interviews, or skills workshops.

Union members with a hiring or referral hall can contact that hall three times per week or attend training to satisfy the requirements.

The only workers exempt are those who have a recall date submitted by an employer, who are in approved training, or who are participating in a Shared Work program.

The week beginning July 5 will also see the return of the “waiting week” requirement, which means people aren’t paid benefits for the first week they’re eligible until their last week of eligibility.

In the same week, the state will also start charging employers for unemployment claims against their accounts. In Monday’s news release, the state said employers looking to reduce their charges should report employees they’re paying through the federal Paycheck Protection Program or who have refused to return to work.

Roughly 19,800 people filed new claims for unemployment in Missouri in the week that ended June 6, the most recent period for which data was available Monday.

That was a remarkable improvement from the 100,000-per-week highs of late March and early April, but it remained several times higher than the weekly numbers reported in early March.

The latest data from the federal government shows 230,000 people were still on the rolls in the last full week of March, more than twice the highest weekly number seen during the Great Recession.

That number did not include those enrolled in a special federal program for self-employed and gig workers who are not usually eligible for benefits.

Austin Huguelet is the News-Leader's politics reporter. Got something he should know? Have a question? Call him at 417-403-8096 or email him at ahuguelet@news-leader.com. You can also support local journalism at News-Leader.com/subscribe.

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Missouri’s unemployed will again have to search for work to get benefits - News-Leader
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