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Coronavirus layoffs in US spark surge in state unemployment claims

Published:Wednesday | March 18, 2020 | 4:25 PM
People wait in line for help with unemployment benefits at the One-Stop Career Center, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Las Vegas. Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation and its partner organizations, like the One-Stop Career Center, have seen an increase in traffic due to the coronavirus. (AP Photo/John Locher)

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (AP) — In Ohio, more than 48,000 people applied for jobless benefits during the first two days of this week.

The tally during the same period the prior week: just 1,825.

In neighbouring Pennsylvania, about 70,000 people sought unemployment aid in a single day — six times the total for the entire previous week.

Jobless claims are surging across the US after governmental officials ordered millions of workers, students and shoppers to stay at home as a precaution against spreading the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

“We’ve been getting flooded with calls,” said John Dodds, director of the non profit Philadelphia Unemployment Project. “It’s going to be a big mess, a double mess: illness and unemployment.”

The growing number of people filing for unemployment checks raises fresh questions about whether states have stockpiled enough money since the last recession to tide over idled workers until the crisis ends.

Some fear the demand for help could outpace the states’ ability to pay claims.

“Our unemployment insurance fund is getting hit pretty hard right now,” said Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, where coronavirus-related jobless claims accelerated from zero to nearly 18,000 in barely one week.

President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing an economic stimulus package that could approach $1 trillion and include sending checks to Americans within a matter of weeks to help them pay for groceries, bills, mortgages and rent.

A separate aid bill pending in Congress could inject $1 billion into state unemployment insurance programmes.

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