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Delaware's jobless rate drops, but unemployment scams surge

Delaware Public Media

The State Division of Unemployment says its dealing with an increased amount of fraud, even as the jobless rate falls.

Division Director Darryl Scott says attempts at fraud have been common since the pandemic started, but a recent surge has the state trying to make the public more aware.

He says people have tried to take over or clone the state unemployment’s website and social media accounts and reach out to individuals via text or direct message requesting personal information. 

 

“What we would advise individuals to be aware of is that we don’t provide customer service via Facebook Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, any of those social media accounts," said Scott. "We communicate with individuals via email.”     

The state’s unemployment rate dropped significantly last month from 6.4 to 5.9% with 28,600 unemployed Delawareans. The national rate dropped from 6.1 to 5.8%.

Both were at 13.3% this time last year during COVID shutdowns.

Delaware added more than 39,000 jobs since then, though jobs were down last month from 445,300 to 443,900.

As restaurants go back to hiring, leisure and hospitality jobs are up by almost 19,000 jobs from this time last year.

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