New Hampshire sees slight uptick in jobless claims
(The Center Square) – New unemployment claims in New Hampshire ticked up slightly last week, as a new federal pandemic relief package promised to buoy thousands of jobless workers in the state.
At least 2,482 new applications for benefits were filed for the week that ended March 6 – a decrease of 35 from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly report.
But there were 58 new claims last week for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federally backed program that covers workers ineligible for traditional unemployment benefits. That’s an increase of 17 from the previous week.
Meanwhile, 24,819 continuing claims – which lag behind a week but are viewed as a barometer of the unemployment situation – were filed in the week ending Feb. 27, declining by 388 over the previous week.
The state has paid out more than $1.8 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits since mid-March, when the COVID-19 outbreak began.
New Hampshire’s jobless rate crept up slightly to 4.1% in January, according to the latest figures released this week by the New Hampshire Employment Security.
Nationally, about 712,000 new jobless claims were filed last week, a decrease of about 42,000 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
Continuing claims dropped by 193,000 to about 4.1 million nationally for the week that ended Feb. 27 the labor department said.
Despite the gradually improving labor market, more than 20.1 million Americans were still receiving state or federal unemployment benefits in the week ending Feb. 20.
This week, Congress approved President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package that will extend unemployment benefits until September and provide $300 per week in emergency jobless benefits. Biden was expected to sign the bill Thursday afternoon.
The federal unemployment programs are set to expire on March 14, which would have left more than 11 million out-of-work Americans without federal financial assistance.
“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” Biden said in remarks on Wednesday. “I look forward to signing it.”
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