During the week of April 25-May 1, a total of 230 initial weekly claims for state unemployment benefits were processed by the Department of Labor and Regulation. This is a decrease of 158 claims from the prior week’s total of 388.
The latest number of continued state claims is 3,231 for the week ending April 24, an increase of 283 from the prior week’s total of 2,948. This indicates the number of unemployed workers eligible for and receiving benefits after their initial claim.
For the week ending May 1, a total of $565,000 was paid out in state benefits, in addition to $1 million in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), $113,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and $295,000 in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits.
The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance was $154.5 million on May 2.
Benefits paid since March 16, 2020:
- Regular State = $112.7 million
- FPUC = $232.8 million
- PUA = $20.3 million
- PEUC = $9.0 million
Total = Approximately $374.8 million
Nationally,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 498,000, the lowest point since the viral pandemic struck 14 months ago and a sign of the job market’s growing strength as businesses reopen and consumers step up spending. Applications declined 92,000 from a revised 590,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims — a rough measure of the pace of layoffs — has declined significantly from a peak of 900,000 in January as employers have ramped up hiring. The pace of applications is still well above the roughly 230,000 level that prevailed before the viral outbreak tore through the economy in March of last year.
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