Thousands more York, Lancaster, Chester county jobs lost. Yet, a reason for optimism.
Another 3,500 tri-county residents are out of work, but there may be a new reason for optimism.
The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce on Thursday morning reported initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending April 18. Statewide, workers filed more than 73,000 claims. That number is down more than 14,000 workers from the week prior, the first week-to-week drop in filed claims since the COVID-19 coronavirus related surge hit in mid-March.
“Our agency is heartened to see the first decrease in initial claims after so many weeks,” workforce department chief of staff Jamie Suber said in a statement. “We hope that this will begin to set a downward trend as individuals who have already filed continue to receive their benefits through this crisis and other claimants receive their funds through some of the additional federal programs we are still implementing.”
The most recent week data still is far higher than any pre-coronavirus weeks.
“We know that, as a state, we still have much to accomplish before we begin to feel a sense of normalcy, but our agency is actively responding to the needs of individuals and businesses as we work through this together,” Suber said.
The claim data reflects people who live and work in South Carolina. It doesn’t account for South Carolina residents who lose jobs in North Carolina, a potential issue for border counties like York and Lancaster where a significant portion of the population crosses the state line to work.
The tri-county area of York, Lancaster and Chester counties had 3,540 unemployment claims in the most recent week. The figure brings the total to 18,401 claims since mid-March.
York County had 2,358 claims for the week ending April 18. It’s the second straight week the number of claims dropped in York County. Still, since social distancing and COVID-19 measures began in mid-March York County has 12,701 claims.
Lancaster County saw 765 claims the most recent week, more than 300 fewer than the prior week. In all Lancaster County has 3,787 claims since coronavirus started.
The most recent week saw 417 claims in Chester County. It’s also a week-to-week drop. Chester County has 1,913 claims since mid-March.
The workforce agency paid more than $351 million so far in typical unemployment and CARES Act benefits. There have been more than 340,000 claims received in five weeks. For more on the claims process, visit the COVID-19 Resource Hub or dew.sc.gov.
