SALT LAKE CITY — The volume of new claims for unemployment benefits in Utah fell for the first time in weeks, but the number of people filing for jobless compensation remains at historically high levels.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services reported Thursday that 24,171 new claims were made for the week of April 5 to April 11 — 27% less than the previous week. Last year, just 1,131 claims were made during the same period, the department reported.
Amid the record volume of filings, a total of $11,661,720 was paid out in traditional jobless benefits. This week marked the initial availability of $600 in weekly stimulus appropriated through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, passed by Congress. An additional $6,445,260 of stimulus was paid out in conjunction with regular payments for a total of $18,106,980 in unemployment benefits for the weeklong period.
The three industries with the highest percentage of claims for the week were office and administrative support at 13%, sales and related occupations at 12%, along with food preparation and serving at 9.5%.
The Utah counties reporting the highest number of individuals filing new unemployment insurance claims were Salt Lake County at 39.6%, Utah County at 13.8%, Weber County at 9.9%, Davis County at 9.5% and Washington County at 4.8%.
Meanwhile, Utah’s Department of Workforce Services this week announced the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in conjunction with the CARES Act, which is now accepting applicants in the Beehive State. The program extends benefits to individuals who were previously ineligible for traditional jobless benefits, including self-employed or gig economy workers.
For a list of those eligible, prospective applicants can visit the CARES Act and Unemployment Insurance FAQ.
Another resource available to all claimants is the “Am I Eligible?” feature at jobs.utah.gov, a news release stated. Claimants can enter their Social Security number; if it comes back with an eligible monetary decision, the applicant is notified to apply for unemployment compensation, whereas an ineligible decision denotes that applicants should apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
“Essentially, if you are eligible for unemployment assistance, you are not eligible for pandemic. But not everyone is covered under Pandemic Unemployment Assistance has had their work interrupted due to COVID-19 and a big segment of that population is the self-employed and the gig workers,” Kevin Burt director for Utah Division of Unemployment Insurance, said. “This is a federally funded program and a federal temporary assistance program that does expanded unemployment to people who have lost work due to COVID-19 and they are not eligible for unemployment benefits.”
He said claimants should expect between 21 to 30 days for the processing of applications and should also continue filing weekly claims available on Sundays. They can visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19 for more information.
“Pandemic Unemployment Assistance is up to 39 weeks,” he said. “It is built in to cover hopefully the length of this current pandemic. But after that 39 weeks has expired, or after everyone has returned to work, then the pandemic unemployment assistance will go away. Unemployment insurance will stay the same.”
The new funding is only available through the CARES Act until the end of the year, he added. In the meantime, the division will continue administering the traditional unemployment insurance program and the pandemic assistance program as the state works through the employment issues created by the coronavirus crisis, he said.
“Our priority remains processing claims and providing Utahns with the benefits they’re in need of,” Burt said. “We are accomplishing this as the benefits going out continue to grow and two new federal programs have been created and made available.”