Unemployment rates continue to rise as states reopen economies
The Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Administrative Offices are pictured on Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
The Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Administrative Offices stands Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
More than 33 million Americans have filed unemployment insurance claims over the last seven weeks after the coronavirus pandemic forced state and national officials to close nonessential businesses.
In Utah, the state’s Department of Workforce Services received 9,057 new initial claims and 107,711 weekly claims from April 26 to May 2, according to a press release. During this week, 1,251 people ended their unemployment benefits.
Salt Lake County continued to lead with the highest percentage of claims in the state, making up 40%, or 3,623, unemployment insurance claims. Holding 13% of claims, Utah County residents make up the second-highest percentage of new initial claims with 1,177 people in the county filing for unemployment.
Davis, Weber and Washington counties rounded out the top five counties again this week with 815, 634 and 362 residents filing initial unemployment insurance claims, respectively, over the past week.
Office and administrative support, sales and related occupations, and food preparation and serving industries were the top three sectors that saw the highest percentage of claims in the week ending May 2. Office and administrative support positions made up 13% of unemployment insurance claims, while sales and related occupations, and food preparation and serving industries followed with 11% and 7%.
Over the past week, the Utah Department of Workforce Services paid claimants $25.97 million in traditional unemployment benefits and costs associated with processing applications. Additionally, the department also paid $46.98 million in $600 additional benefits.
Still, Utah is not among the states with the highest number of unemployment insurance claims. In the week ending on April 25, Washington, Georgia and New York led the nation with the highest number of initial unemployment insurance claims while California, Florida and Connecticut saw the biggest decreases.
Nationwide, from April 26 to May 2, 3.2 million people filed for unemployment insurance, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to release an estimate of unemployment rates in April on Friday as part of the department’s monthly jobs report.
About a dozen states across the nation, including Utah, have begun to reopen with the hope that opening businesses will return unemployed individuals to work and kickstart their economies.
“With the state moving to the orange moderate risk factor, we remind claimants returning to work to accurately report wages earned during your weekly claim,” Unemployment Insurance Division Director Kevin Burt said.
The Department of Workforce Services announced that as the economy reopens, any refusal of a suitable job offer will be considered a “quit,” making the individual receiving benefits ineligible for further unemployment insurance assistance.
Furthermore, if claimants do not disclose that they refused a suitable job offer, they will be required to pay back any benefits they received and could face criminal charges for fraud.
Once claimants have reentered the workforce by accepting a job offer, they are not required to contact the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Instead, residents reentering the workforce can simply stop filing weekly claims, and they will stop receiving benefits.
Unemployed Utah residents can file initial or weekly claims online, and additional information is available for claimants whose employment was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.