The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) notified the state that Kansas has officially “triggered off” of the unemployment insurance Extended Benefits (EB) program, bringing the program to its end.

The federal agency’s announcement means that Kansans’ last payable week on the EB program will be the week ending December 12, 2020. Additionally, the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) is prohibited from making any additional payments, regardless of any remaining balance of EB entitlement. Kansans who are no longer eligible for the EB program may be eligible to receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) if they qualify under all of the program’s federally mandated criteria.

Read more here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This release includes nonfarm jobs and labor force estimates for October 2020. Data collected for this report references the week including October 12th. Reopening decisions were transferred to local officials on May 26, 2020. Counties following the ‘Ad Astra Plan to Reopen Kansas’ moved to Phase 3 on June 8, 2020, with recommendations to remain in Phase 3 issued on July 6, 2020. Additional resources for affected workers and employers may be found at the Kansas Department of Labor’s website: www.dol.ks.gov and www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.

Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services (LMIS) division of the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.3 percent in October. This was a decrease from 5.9 percent in September and an increase from 3.1 percent in October 2019.

Read more here.

Please be aware that a fraudulent SMS phishing attempt is being distributed. This is not from the Kansas Department of Labor and no links should be clicked. If you receive a text like this, please delete it immediately.

The agency is investigating these fraudulent texts at this time. Kansas, along with every other state, is seeing a spike in Identity Theft related to Unemployment Claims. If you or somebody you know has been the victim of this scam, please report it at www.ReportFraud.ks.gov.

As a reminder, KDOL will never ask for your full Social Security Number. We will only ask for the last four digits or the Claim ID when referencing your issue.

The text message may look something like either of these:

USDOL Informs Kansas High Extended Unemployment Benefits Period Ending Eligible claimants can receive up to 13 weeks of benefits, rather than 20 weeks Topeka, Kansas - Due to economic growth and recovering unemployment rates in the state of Kansas, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) notified the state Friday Oct. 16, that it will remain on the 13-week Extended Benefits (EB) program for unemployed Kansans, but that the state has triggered off of the High Unemployment Period (HUP) under that program.

Read more here

IMPORTANT NOTE: This release includes nonfarm jobs and labor force estimates for September 2020. Data collected for this report references the week including September 12th. Reopening decisions were transferred to local officials on May 26, 2020. Counties following the ‘Ad Astra Plan to Reopen Kansas’ moved to Phase 3 on June 8, 2020, with recommendations to remain in Phase 3 issued on July 6, 2020. Additional resources for affected workers and employers may be found at the Kansas Department of Labor’s website: www.dol.ks.gov and www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.

Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services (LMIS) division of the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.9 percent in September. This was a decrease from 6.9 percent in August and an increase from 3.1 percent in September 2019.

Read more here