First-time Maine unemployment claims fall

(The Center Square) – New unemployment claims in Maine dropped last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly report.

There were 1,254 new applications for state unemployment benefits filed for the week that ended July 3 – down by 114 from the previous week, the federal agency reported on Thursday.

There was also a substantial drop in new claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. There were 116 claims for PUA last week, which was about 590 fewer claims than the previous week, according to the report.

Continuing jobless claims – which lag behind a week but are viewed as a barometer of the unemployment situation – totaled 9,278 in the week ending June 26, a decline of 203 over the prior week.

Maine has distributed more than $2.3 billion in state and federal jobless benefits to about 380,000 jobless workers during the pandemic, according to state data.

The state’s non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.3% in April after adding 1,200 jobs that month, according to the Maine Department of Labor.

That’s down from a high of 9.1% last April but still higher than the state’s average 3% unemployment rate throughout 2019.

A recent report by the Maine Department of Revenue said the number of nonfarm jobs in May had increased 52,800 from a year-ago. The largest gains over the year were in the sectors most impacted by the pandemic, including leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and health care and social assistance, the agency reported.

Despite that, Maine businesses are struggling to fill tens of thousands of jobs unfilled as the busy summer tourist season approaches.

Gov. Janet Mills has taken steps in recent weeks to lure workers back to their jobs amid a shortage of labor as the state eases COVID-19 restrictions and reopens its economy.

The state has reinstituted a work search requirement mandating that individuals receiving jobless benefits actively look for work and accept positions for which they are “reasonably qualified.” Those who refuse to accept an offer can lose their unemployment benefits.

Mills has rolled out a “Back to Work” program that provides a one-time, $1,500 payment for eligible workers who begin new jobs. Part time workers are also eligible for a bonus.

To qualify, workers must accept a full-time job that pays less than $25 per hour and keep it for at least eight weeks.

Nationally, there were 373,000 new claims filed in the week that ended July 3, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week, according to the labor department.

Continuing claims, which lag behind a week, dropped by 145,000 to 3.33 million nationally for the week that ended June 26. The numbers reflect that a number of states have ended participation in federal employment programs.

More than 14.2 million Americans were still receiving state or federal jobless benefits in the week ending June 19, the agency reported.

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