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| What the ****? |
According to a report from the U.S. Labor Department, in 2011 the federal and state governments overpaid an estimated $14 billion in unemployment benefits, about 11% of all benefits paid.
Most of the overpaid funds are received by three types of people: Those who aren't actively searching for a job, those who were fired or quit voluntarily, and those who continue to file claims even though they've returned to work.
Any of those circumstances would make a person ineligible for benefits. The overpayment typically results from an administrative error made by the government, the employer, the worker or a combination of the three. In much rarer instances, people deliberately defraud the system, using fake documents or identities.
