SC unemployment agency still seeing thousands of new applicants each week

South Carolina’s Department of Employment and Workforce received 16,959 new applications from unemployed South Carolinians, the agency reported Thursday.

Since the South Carolina outbreak of the coronavirus was first identified in early March, the unemployment office has received 635,688 claims for unemployment insurance — a historic high. DEW said Thursday is has paid out more than $2.72 billion in unemployment benefits, including state and federal relief programs covered by the CARES Act.

In the past few weeks, as leaders moved to reopen the state’s economy, South Carolina’s number of new claims sloped downward. The latest numbers reflect a decrease of 139 initial claims from the week prior. However, the numbers are still far above — close to eight times higher than — what DEW handled before the pandemic, when unemployment was low.

Much of the economic damage was concentrated in food, hospitality, tourism and retail at the start of the South Carolina outbreak. But those impacts spread to other sectors, such as manufacturing, professional services and health care, according to DEW’s executive director, Dan Ellzey.

“While the number of people seeking first time unemployment assistance fell, the state is not seeing the movement week-over-week for which we’d hoped,” said Ellzey, according to a statement.

The workforce agency announced this week the start of an Extended Benefits program, which will give 10 additional weeks of help to South Carolinians who exhausted state unemployment benefits and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

The agency’s call center will be closed on July 3 and 4. DEW urged anyone with questions to call 1-866-831-1724 on Thursday.