Authorities spending and fraud are common dance companions, however hardly ever as cheek to cheek as they have been with unemployment funds through the pandemic. A brand new report provides extra proof concerning the failure to guard taxpayers.

The Authorities Accountability Workplace this week launched a evaluation of the Labor Division’s dealing with of $878 billion in unemployment insurance coverage handouts from April 2020 to September 2022. Labor estimates that fraud in its regular unemployment program hit $8.5 billion from July 2020 by means of June 2021. That’s 8.6% of outlays.