SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 25, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Utahns filed 4,961 new unemployment claims for the week of June 14 though 20, and increase of 114 claims, or 2.9%, from the week before.
New weekly numbers shared by the Utah Department of Workforce Services on Thursday also say that is a 339% increase from the weekly average in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Including ongoing claims and new, the total claims for the week beginning June 14 were 84,557.
A total of $23,868,989 was paid in traditional unemployment benefits, the report says. An additional $45,756,510 of the $600 weekly stimulus was paid out to claimants, as well as $1,152,649 in federally funded extended benefit payments, for a total of $71,011,859 in unemployment benefits for the week.
A total of 1,629 new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims were submitted.
The number of people who ended their unemployment insurance claim on June 13, 2020 was 7,039. A total of 5,666 ended their claim during the previous week.
As the state continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, this number will help demonstrate the number of people no longer accessing unemployment benefits, the report says.
“While we have seen new claims seemingly stabilize at a very high number, we remain hopeful as continued claims for ongoing benefits have declined for seven consecutive weeks,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
“This means people are returning to work faster than they are applying, we hope this continues as we work towards full economic recovery.”
The three industries that saw the highest percentage of claims this week, as self-identified by the claimant at the time of their filing, were:
- Office and administrative support (11.7%)
- Management occupations (10%)
- Production occupations (8.6%)
The five counties in Utah that had the highest number of individuals file new unemployment insurance claims were:
- Salt Lake (38.7%)
- Utah (15%)
- Davis (7.5%)
- Weber (6.9%)
- Washington (4%)
People whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19 are encouraged to visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19 for updated information including help for employees and employers returning to work.
