OKLAHOMA CITY – Because of a dramatic increase in fraudulent claims during the coronavirus pandemic, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is rolling out a digital identification verification initiative, OESC Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt announced.
Digital ID uses facial recognition technology, an identity verification tool called ID.X. This is intended to protect claimants’ personal information and prevent fraud, Zumwalt said.
OESC received more than 100,000 fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits since the pandemic arrived in Oklahoma in mid-March, the agency reported.
“A digital identity is the online equivalent of a real person, comprised of multiple characteristics, including physical features as well as personal data,” Zumwalt said. “Verification information will come from documents and biometric data, verified against a trust source such as state and national registries.” For biometric identification, special “liveness” software is used to ensure biometrics being captured are genuine “and not a sophisticated fraudulent attempt,” Zumwalt said.
Effective November 12, claimants filing weekly claims on “ui.ok.gov” are required to verify their identity. OESC has implemented a hotline for anyone who encounters problems with the digital ID initiative; call 405-521-2371 for assistance.
“Without verification, applicants will not be able to claim unemployment benefits,” Zumwalt said. Digital ID verification will occur every 90 days, “so the sooner claimants can get used to the process, the easier it will be for future attempts,” she said. OESC also has added a new self-help feature available on “OKJobMatch” for citizens who need to complete work registration. Some claimants may experience issues with logins and/or passwords, Zumwalt said; consequently, OESC has established a dedicated telephone line for this issue at 405-521-3263.
ECONOMY RECOVERING BUT IS DIFFERENT NOW
While the U.S. has slowly begun to recover, the economy we experienced is probably a thing of the past, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week.
“We’re recovering, but to a different economy,” he said during a virtual panel discussion hosted by the European Central Bank. COVID-19 has accelerated trends in the economy and society, such as increasing use of technology, telework and automation, he said. “This will have lasting effects on how people live and work.”
Because of the transformation, markets are adjusting to a new “normal.” As an example, Powell said, lower paid workers and those in jobs that require face-to-face interaction, such as retail and restaurant employees, probably will “shoulder most of the burden of this shift.”
Furthermore, the post-pandemic economy is “at risk of being less productive,” Powell said. Many women have quit their jobs because of child-care responsibilities during the health-care crisis.
In addition, the education of school children has been disrupted and is not as structured as it used to be. In Oklahoma, for example, students received little coursework during the last three months of the 2019-20 school year, and several schools that resumed in-person classwork this fall have since reverted back to distance learning because of coronavirus outbreaks.
JOBLESS CLAIMS CONTINUE DECLINE
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported November 12 that the four-week “moving average” of continuing unemployment claims declined for the 20th consecutive week.
“I’m pleased to see continued claims numbers declined by 15%,” Ms. Zumwalt said. This indicates that Oklahomans are getting back to work, she said.
Advance unadjusted initial jobless claims for the week ending November 7 numbered 3,858, a decrease of 1,095 from the previous week and the first time that initial claims dropped below 4,000 since the pandemic arrived in Oklahoma in mid-March, the OESC reported.
The advance unadjusted number of continued claims totaled 50,115, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of continued claims was 62,609, a decrease of more than 8,000 from the previous week.
MORE BENEFITS PAID IN 8 MONTHS THAN IN PREVIOUS 10 YEARS
The OESC has paid more than $3.5 billion in unemployment benefits to claimants since the start of the pandemic in March, ledgers reflect. To put that in perspective, Zumwalt said, the OESC paid more in eight months than it did in the last decade, from 2010 through 2019.
“Even with an outdated system and limited full-time employees to handle the high number of claims, we’ve processed more than 800,000 claims,” Zumwalt said.
In addition, the agency reported that first-call resolution climbed to almost 70%. In comparison, first-call resolution in early August was 43%, and first-call resolution was less than 5% when the tsunami of unemployment claims struck in March, records show.
The OESC’s antiquated mainframe dates from 1978, she said. “It’s a system that you navigate by pushing F9 and F6. That’s the engine that runs the claims process for this agency.”
Consequently, the OESC has undertaken a digital transformation project that will entail replacement of software and hardware to enable the agency to operate more efficiently. “This is a complete business process transformation,” Zumwalt said. “It will virtually improve every aspect of the way the agency currently operates.”
The overhaul will cost $40 million to $45 million, she said. The expense will be financed from federal CARES legacy funding and from the OESC’s technology fund, she said. “No state funds nor UI Trust Fund dollars are being used on this project.”
The work will take an estimated 18 months to complete, and the agency predicts the system will be operational by the end of the first quarter in 2022.
RATE HIKE INTENDED TO REPLENISH FUND
Oklahoma’s UI trust fund is underwritten with taxes collected from employers and was supplemented this year with multiple infusions of federal stimulus aid. Approximately 90,000 employers “currently pay into the UI Trust Fund,” OESC spokesman Anthony Triana said.
This year the maximum state benefit for an unemployed worker is $539 and the minimum benefit is $16.
Conditional Factor D will be imposed next year to reinvigorate the trust fund.
The Oklahoma Employment Security Act specifies four condition factors, A, B, C, and D, all of which boost the balance in the unemployment trust fund. “A” is the least severe measure imposed on employers, while “D” is the most severe.
The increase in unemployment insurance rates “will vary employer to employer,” Zumwalt said. The current rate schedule is .01% to 5.5%. The rate for 2021 will be .03% to 7.5%. “Nearly three-fourths of Oklahoma employers (72%) will see their rates come in at .03%,” Zumwalt said.
A company’s unemployment tax is calculated as a percentage of payroll per employee, up to the annual taxable wage base ($18,700 in 2020).