SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 17, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Department of Workforce Services has released its report for the week of Sept. 6 through 12, which shows a 12% decrease in new claims from the week prior.
New claims filed numbered 4,193 for the week of Sept. 6 to 12, 2020 with a total of $39,135,890 of benefits paid. There were 50,025 continued claims filed during that same week.
The number of people who have not requested a benefit for two consecutive weeks as of Sept. 5, 2020 was 3,735. A total of 13,290 met the same criteria during the previous week.
“We are happy to report that the first three weeks of Lost Wages Assistance began to be paid last week and the final three weeks of benefits began this week,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
“Lost Wages Assistance is one of eight new federal programs that have been successfully stood up by the Unemployment Insurance Division since mid-March to help Utahns that have seen their employment disrupted due to this pandemic,” Burt said.
Lost Wages Assistance is only available to each state for a total of six weeks, the statement noted. The six week period runs from July 26, 2020 through September 5, 2020. The limit of six weeks is a result of high state participation and capped funding availability to the program.
People are eligible if their weekly unemployment benefit amount was at least $100, they were eligible for one of the standard unemployment programs during the applicable time period and they were unemployed or partially unemployed as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Benefits will be automatically calculated and distributed during the month of September based on unemployment claims already received. People do not need to call or apply separately for this benefit.
If a person’s employment has been impacted by COVID-19, they should visit visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19 for updated information, including help for employees and employers returning to work.
