NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: June 11, 2020
Media Contact: Salvador Vazquez, salvador.vazquez@labor.idaho.gov or Craig Shaul, craig.shaul@labor.idaho.gov
New initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits totaled 3,953 for the week ending June 6, increasing 8 percent – or 307 claims – from the previous week.
The four-week moving average of new initial claims declined 9 percent to an average of 4,532 new initial claims per week.
The second half of March saw an unprecedented surge in the number of unemployment claims filed in Idaho. During the week ending March 28 alone, the state recorded more than 32,000 initial claims – more than 3,000 percent greater than the number of claims just two weeks prior. Between March 15 and April 25, Idahoans filed 117,811 new claims.
A significant number of the jobless claims can be attributed to closures of restaurants, a vast majority of which are small enterprises with under 50 employees. According to the 2019 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 94 percent of all restaurants in the state have fewer than 50 employees, and these small enterprises account for 77 percent of industry employment.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: May 7, 2020
Information Contact: Georgia Smith, (208) 332-3570 ext. 2102 or Craig Shaul, (208) 332-3570 ext. 3201
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits from workers laid off due to COVID-19 reached 7,495 during the week ending May 2, a 15 percent decline from the previous week.
Idaho workers have filed 125,306 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the seven weeks of the COVID-19 state of emergency – 2.1 times the total number of initial claims filed in all of 2019.
It was the fifth week the number of new claims fell, while continued claims – the number of valid claims filed by people who are eligible, currently claiming benefits and still unable to return to work – reached 71,794.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: April 30, 2020
Information Contact: Georgia Smith, (208) 332-3570 ext. 2102 or Craig Shaul, (208) 332-3570 ext. 3201
Laid-off Idaho workers filed 117,811 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the six weeks of the COVID-19 state of emergency – twice the total number of initial claims filed in all of 2019.
Initial claims reached 8,827 during the week ending April 25, a 32 percent decline from the previous week.
It was the third week the number of new claims fell, while continued claims – the number of valid claims filed by people who are eligible, currently claiming benefits and still unable to return to work – reached 71,416. Continue reading
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: April 23, 2020
Information Contact: Georgia Smith, (208) 332-3570 ext. 2102 or Craig Shaul, (208) 332-3570 ext. 3201
Laid off Idaho workers filed 108,984 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the first five weeks of the COVID-19 state of emergency.
Initial claims reached 13,023 during the week ending April 18, a 30 percent decline from the previous week – but still 12 times greater than all of 2019’s weekly average.
It was the second week the number of new claims fell, while continued claims – the number of valid claims filed by people who are eligible, currently claiming benefits and still unable to Continue reading