York County unemployment claims rise as job loss hits more sectors, SC adds benefits
Almost 1,000 more unemployment claims came from York, Lancaster and Chester counties last week, as job losses reach into more business sectors statewide.
York and Chester counties saw an increase in claims for the week ending June 27. Lancaster County saw a slight drop, but not enough to prevent an overall uptick for the tri-county area.
York County added 590 unemployment claims. Lancaster followed at 224 claims, then 146 Chester County claims.
The 960 tri-county claims bring the total since COVID-19 social distancing hit mid-March to 33,611. York County has 22,519 claims in that span. Lancaster County has 7,275 and Chester County 3,817 claims.
Statewide there was a decrease in claims the most recent week.
“While the number of people seeking first time unemployment assistance fell, the state is not seeing the movement week-over-week for which we hoped,” said Dan Ellzey, state Department of Employment and Workforce executive director.
Unemployment dipped by 139 claims, but the state still saw almost 17,000 in a week.
Ellzey, in a statement with the release of new weekly figures Thursday morning, said there are still questions and unknowns as to what will happen or how long the current economic stall from coronvirus and social distancing will last.
“What we know is when the virus initially caused the economic shut down in March, job cuts were highly concentrated in the restaurant, travel, hospitality and retail industries,” Ellzey said. “While those industries are still feeling the residual impact, the effect is continuing to spread to other sectors like professional services, manufacturing and healthcare as sustained weeks of hardship drag on.”
On Wednesday the state agency announced an extended benefits program that will add 10 weeks of unemployment benefits after people who file claims exhaust Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation eligibility.
So far South Carolina residents have received more than $2.72 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits since the pandemic and social distancing began. Since mid-March, 635,688 unemployment claims have been filed in South Carolina.
“We will maintain our focus on the work that’s in front of us and help as many people as possible through this crisis,” Ellzey said.
