York County hits the 10K unemployment claim mark as COVID-19 job impact continues.
Nearly 5,000 more tri-county workers filed unemployment claims in a week.
The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce on Thursday morning released its latest set of weekly claim data, as the department has since the COVID-19 coronavirus set off a surge in filings last month. York, Lancaster and Chester counties combine for 4,930 initial claims filed for the week ending April 11.
The intrastate claims include only filers who live and work in South Carolina. Claims statewide are up more than 4,000% since the week ending March 14, before business closings and other social distancing measures brought on by coronavirus.
York County claims were lower in the most recent week than the one prior, while Lancaster and Chester counties saw claims increase for the fourth straight week. With 3,237 claims the most recent week, York County now has 10,343 in the past four weeks.
Lancaster County hit four digits for the first time in the most recent week, at 1,082 initial claims filed. That figure by itself is about half of what the county saw the previous three weeks combined. Lancaster County now has 3,022 claims filed.
Chester County saw 611 claims the most recent week, compared to 885 claims the prior three weeks. Chester County now has 1,496 claims in four weeks.
Combined, the tri-county area accounts for 14,861 claims filed since the COVID-19 impact began.
Statewide there were 87,686 claims filed the most recent week, compared to 1,996 claims the week ending March 14. There have been almost 270,000 statewide claims in four weeks.
According to the workforce department, $114 million was paid in $600 CARES Act benefits and regular state unemployment insurance benefits just Sunday through Tuesday of this week. Those payments came ahead of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds set for South Carolina.
Call center staff to serve unemployment filing is up six times since pre-pandemic levels, and will be about 10 times more than normal by next week. A chat bot feature has been added. The state agency has an online filing format at dew.sc.gov.
On April 13, the workforce department reported it had paid $53 million in stimulus money to 64,000 South Carolinians just the day prior. The same day it paid out $10 million in typical unemployment funds.
“I am beyond proud of the work of our agency staff for rising to the challenge and assisting individuals who are relying on state and federal funding to help them keep food on their tables and their bills paid,” workforce agency director Dan Ellzey said in a statement Monday. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but please know our staff is dedicated to helping everyone.”
