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Unemployment claims make another historic spike

By Ryann Richardson special To The Standard-Examiner - | Apr 2, 2020
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The Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Administrative Offices stands Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald

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The Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Administrative Offices are pictured on Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald

As the U.S. continues to battle against a global health crisis and Utah officials brace themselves for longer-than-expected extensions to previous health orders, national and state weekly unemployment claims have made another unprecedented spike.

In a press released by the Utah Department of Workforce Services, the agency announced 28,560 new claims were filed from March 22-28, which is a 46% increase from last week’s historic spike. Additionally, there were 24,424 weekly claims filed during that same week with a total of $3,972,938 already paid in benefits.

From March 15-21, new unemployment claims increased from 1,131 to 19,591, a 2425% total rise in new claims. For individuals who filed for unemployment insurance during that time, payments began being distributed Tuesday. These numbers did not affect this week’s report and will be reflected in next week’s findings.

The three hardest-hit industries continue to be food preparation and service, office and administration support, and management. Food service employees made up the largest percentage of claims at 16.6%, while office support and management followed at over 12% and 9.46%, respectively.

Utah County had the second highest number of individuals filing claims in the state, making up 14.63% of the overall claims filed. Davis, Weber and Washington counties were also included in the top five counties with the most unemployment claims at 9.17%, 6.81% and 6.06%.

Salt Lake County had the highest number of employees filing for unemployment insurance, reaching over 41.8% of the claims filed.

“We are approaching more new claims in the last two weeks than the number of claims filed in all of 2019,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services, 1,113 individuals ended their unemployment insurance claim on, or by, March 21, which is less than the 1,508 residents who ended their claims during the previous week. These figures indicate the number of people no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

Most employers have indicated that they expect employees to return to work once economic activity resumes, Burt said in a previous interview, and in these instances, employees can apply for unemployment and return to their jobs when the business re-opens.

Nationwide, according to reports by the U.S. Department of Labor, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims is 6,648,000, which is an increase of 3,341,000 from the previous week’s numbers. The previous week’s level was revised by 24,000 from 3,283,000 to 3,307,000.

All states reported increases in initial claims for the week ending March 21 but the states with the largest increases were Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Burt said the Unemployment Insurance Division in Utah is working diligently to work with the newly unemployed.

“Strategies continue to be implemented to respond to this need, as well as the new benefits being described in the CARES Act, but with this historic demand there will be some disruption in our normal service levels,” Burt said.

The purpose of unemployment claims is to help individuals who cannot afford to provide for themselves and to replace a portion of lost wages in the event that residents find themselves without work. Each resident is eligible for up to 26 weeks of unemployment.

The Department of Workforce Services has also created a web page for residents whose employment has been affected by COVID-19. The page offers workshops twice each day to help residents learn how to apply for unemployment benefit, understand what financial assistance is available, and gather helpful information on how to acquire a new job.

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