Last week the Unemployment Fund received almost 3500 new earnings-related unemployment allowance applications, over 2500 processed

The coronavirus pandemic has sharply increased the number of applications to PAM’s Unemployment Fund. The number of incoming applications in March and April is higher than the whole of last year: Between 1 March and 27 April a total of 22,478 first applications were received. For comparison, in 2019 there were 18,268 first applications, making an average of 1522 a month.   

In week 18 the Unemployment Fund received 3 427 first applications. A first application is an application where earnings-related unemployment allowance is claimed for the first time or after a break of over 6 months.

During the week the Unemployment Fund processed 2 559 first applications. The processing time for applications was 22 working days. The fund’s staff also received 6126 telephone calls, out of which it was able to respond to 899 calls from members.

PAM’s Unemployment Fund has taken a number of steps to deal with the sharp increase in applications. Application processing capacity has been increased e.g. by reorganising work internally and speeding up work processes. The Unemployment Fund has also recruited new employees. Some union employees have also transferred to the fund to help out with the workload.

Each week we will publish the number of applications received and processed the previous week. We will also give the number of answered telephone calls from members and the current application processing time. We will collect this data in one place to make it easier to see how the situation is progressing. Check here for more information.