Maine jobless claims continue downward trend
(The Center Square) – First-time unemployment claims in Maine dropped again last week as fewer jobless workers sought benefits from the state and federally-backed programs.
At least 2,678 unemployment claims were filed for the week that ended Jan. 23, a decline of 634 claims, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly jobless claims report.
Another 392 new claims were filed for federally backed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a decline of 648 over the previous week, the federal agency said.
Meanwhile, 17,097 continuing claims – which are viewed as a barometer of the unemployment situation – were filed in the week ending Jan. 16, declining by 263 over the previous week.
Nationally, about 847,000 new jobless claims were filed last week, a drop of about 67,000 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
Continuing claims dropped by 203,000 to about 4.7 million nationally, the labor department said, the lowest level since the pandemic began last year.
Despite the improving labor market, more than 18.2 million people are still receiving state or federal unemployment benefits.
Many jobless workers are benefiting from an extra $300-a-week from federal unemployment programs that were extended for another 11 weeks by the latest COVID-19 relief package.
The government-funded programs provide federal jobless benefits for self-employed, gig workers and others who do not qualify for traditional state unemployment programs.
President Joe Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal, which calls for an extension of federal jobless programs and an increase to the $300 weekly benefit. But that proposal isn’t expected to come up for a vote in Congress for several weeks, and details of the relief package are likely to change as it moves through the approval process.
Maine has paid out nearly $1.8 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits since mid-March, when the COVID-19 outbreak began.
The state’s jobless rate held steady at about 5% in December, according to figures released by the Maine Department of Labor.
Still, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates Maine’s actual jobless rate is likely higher than 10%, because about 15,600 workers were misclassified in the December labor survey.
“The fall COVID surge has slowed the jobs recovery,” the state labor department said in a report released Tuesday. “Health concerns, childcare challenges and other factors continued to prevent many jobless people from being available to work or from engaging in work search, as they normally would if not for the virus.”
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