The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has added unemployment insurance (UI) fraud to its list of “high risk” areas for the Federal government, and has tasked the Department of Labor (DOL) – which provides funding and assistance to states to run their UI programs – with finding a fix to the problem.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told members of Congress last week that between $600 and $700 million of Federal funding approved under the American Rescue Plan Act will be used to pay for technical assistance to states to improve their unemployment insurance (UI) systems.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is planning to reauthorize data collection for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) IT Modernization Pre-Implementation Planning checklist, which states use before “going live” with a new UI Benefits and/or tax system.