Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Over 24,000 more people sought unemployment benefits last week in Utah as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the world economy.
A total of 24,171 more people filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to a press release from the Utah Unemployment Division. The department paid out $11,661,720 in benefits.
It’s a lower number of new claimants than the week before — about 33,000 filed for unemployment the week of March 29.
“Our priority remains processing claims and providing Utahns with the benefits they’re in need of,” Unemployment Insurance Division Director Kevin Burt said in the press release. “We are accomplishing this as the benefits going out continue to grow and two new federal programs have been created and made available.”
The highest number of claims the division received in a single week in 2019 was about 5,000, Burt said. Last year was a historically low year for unemployment claims due to the strength of the economy, but it's still clear that Utahns are filing for benefits at a historic rate over the past month, he said.
There were just under 63,000 new unemployment claims filed in all of 2019, Burt said. That number has been surpassed over the past three weeks of 2020.
While he could not release specific numbers about unemployment claims for the current week, Burt said the amount of new claims is again trending downward.
The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, provided another $600 per unemployment check on top of the state’s benefits. Last week was the first week for that extra money to be paid out to Utahns, and another $6,445,260 was distributed in the state through the CARES Act stimulus program.
About 13% of the new claimants last week were previously employed in the office and administrative support industry, according to the news release. Another 12% came from the sales industry, and about 9.5% were from the food service industry, according to the release.
The majority of new claimants last week, just under 40%, were located in Salt Lake County. About 14% were from Utah County, 10% from Weber County, 9.5% from Davis County and 4.8% from Washington County, according to the release.
Nationally, a record 22 million people have sought unemployment aid during the coronavirus crisis.
Burt discussed more details about the unemployment numbers at a Thursday news conference. Watch the replay of the event below.
The federal government made some additional pandemic unemployment assistance available for people who previously were not eligible for unemployment funds, including people who are self-employed or working in the gig economy, such as rideshare drivers.
People will not be eligible for both state unemployment benefits and the pandemic unemployment assistance, Burt said. If you qualify for one, you won't be eligible for the other.
Those who qualify for pandemic unemployment assistance will receive a weekly amount, as well as the extra $600 weekly stimulus through the CARES Act, Burt said.
To check if you are eligible for any of the available unemployment benefits, state or federal, visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19.
