U.S. unemployment system plagued by delays, fraud, racial gaps during pandemic: watchdog agency

NEW YORK, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The nation's unemployment system suffered multiple failures during the COVID-19 pandemic, including delayed payments, elevated fraud and "substantial" disparities in receipt of benefits along racial and ethnic lines, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in two reports issued on Tuesday.

The GAO added unemployment insurance to its "high-risk list," which outlines programs and operations vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement, or in need of transformation, said CNBC in its coverage of the reports.

Some fixes are underway, but "many long-standing issues remain unaddressed," which poses a threat during a future crisis, according to the federal watchdog.

"Leaving (them) unaddressed will heighten the risk of the UI (unemployment) system not meeting fundamental program expectations of serving workers and the broader economy, and may undermine public confidence in the responsible stewardship of government funds," the GAO said.

The U.S. Congress bolstered the unemployment program to an unprecedented degree amid mass joblessness, according to CNBC. The country's unemployment rate ultimately approached 15 percent in April 2020, the worst since the Great Depression. The economy shed nearly 22 million jobs in the span of two months.