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Updated: April 23, 2020

102K CT unemployment claims filed last week

Photo | CT Mirror DOL Deputy Commissioner Daryle Dudzinski, left, and Commissioner Kurt Westby.
By Joe Cooper

More than 102,700 Connecticut workers filed for unemployment last week, which is nearly six times higher than the amount of claims issued in the week prior, according to federal labor officials.
 
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reported there was an increase of 68,707 unemployment claims filed in Connecticut for the week ending April 18, compared to the week ending April 11. The months-long spike in unemployment claims is due to economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
It was not exactly clear Thursday whether last week’s surge in unemployment claims was due to the state Department of Labor (DOL) recently implementing emergency technical upgrades to its nearly 40-year-old computer system. The agency could not be reached for immediate comment Thursday morning.
 
The technical fix comes as DOL is in the midst of paying tens of millions of dollars of backlogged unemployment insurance benefits. In a news release Thursday, DOL said it’s provided $230 million in unemployment benefits after processing 327,000 of the 402,000 unemployment claims it has received since March 13.
 
State officials say DOL’s software update has sped the processing time from about six weeks down to about three weeks. That time could be reduced to one week by April 27, according to DOL Commissioner Commissioner Kurt Westby.
 
DOL’s unemployment claims office in Wethersfield has been at the center of the COVID-19 crisis, which forced an instant wave of jobless residents as a result of state-ordered non-essential business closures.
 
The agency says it's staff is working 12-hour days and is responding to 3,000 emails daily, and has more than 25 employees answering unemployment questions by phone.
 
“During this time of uncertainty, we know a weekly benefit payment can help remove much of the anxiety when it can be used to pay bills or buy food,” Westby said. “While we can never be totally prepared for the impact a pandemic can have on our community, the dedicated Labor Department staff continue to implement new methods and ideas so we can help assist Connecticut’s families as quickly as possible.”
 
Nationally, about 26.5 million Americans have filed jobless claims since March 14. More than 4.4 million claims were filed last week, an 810,000 decrease from the week prior, when more than 5.2 million people filed for unemployment benefits, federal data shows.
 
No matter how you look at the data, the last five weeks have marked the most sudden surge in jobless claims since federal labor officials started tracking the numbers in 1967.
 
Not all of those claims will result in benefits being paid. Some will be rejected because workers did not meet eligibility requirements. Even so, numbers at that level reflect a devastating blow to workers, indicating roughly 16.2% of the U.S. labor force is suffering from layoffs, furloughs or reduced hours during the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Early studies have shown lower-income workers are particularly affected by job losses, and minorities, specifically black and Hispanic families, are expected to bear the brunt of the economic cost of this crisis.

A CNN report contributed to this story

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