NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Oct. 8, 2020
Media Contact: Craig Shaul, Craig.Shaul@labor.idaho.gov or Salvador Vazquez, Salvador.Vazquez@labor.idaho.gov

Unemployment continued claims – the number of people who requested an unemployment benefit payment – continued to fall the week ending Oct. 3, dropping 8 percent from the previous week to 9,144, the 22nd consecutive week of declines.

The four-week moving average for continued claims fell 9 percent – from 11,284 for the week ending Sept. 26 to 10,314 for the week ending Oct. 3.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 2,955 for the week ending Oct. 3, dropping slightly by 40 claims, pushing the four-week moving average down by 6 percent to 3,265.

The department paid out $7.1 million in claims during the week ending Oct. 3, unchanged from the week ending Sept. 26. Regular state benefit payouts were $2 million, down from $2.2 million for the previous week, but 2.5 times higher than the same week in 2019. The Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program paid out just $112,200, down from the prior week’s payout of $323,100. Payouts for LWA ended on Sept. 30. Of the CARES Act programs, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation payments (PEUC) paid out $1.7 million, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) paid out $2.4 million and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) paid out $.9 million.

Total benefit payments to laid-off Idahoans attributed to COVID-19 has reached $883.1 million. Regular state unemployment insurance benefits made up $201 million of the total, with PEUC benefits at $32.1 million, PUA benefits at $69.4 million, FPUC payments at $538 million and LWA benefits at $42.6 million.

Additional information on weekly claims including county and industry details/breakdowns is available on Idaho’s claim data dashboard at https://lmi.idaho.gov/ui-weekly-claims.

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