More than $1.35 billion in unemployment benefits issued in SC as jobless claims rise
As the coronavirus pandemic goes on, the number of South Carolina residents filing initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits continues to rise.
Nearly 30,000 people made initial claims about being jobless from May 10-16, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce reported Thursday.
Of those claims, 2,279 came from Richland County. That’s the third-most in the state over the past week, trailing Greenville (2,845) and Charleston (2,505) counties, according to DEW.
In Lexington County, DEW reported 1,308 initial unemployment claims were issued. That makes it just one of nine counties with more than 1,000 claims in the past week — along with Spartanburg (2,166), Horry (1,999), Berkeley (1,836), Dorchester (1,306) and Anderson (1,252) counties.
The 29,446 unemployment claims are actually fewer than the number of cases filed the previous week, DEW said in a news release.
From May 3-9, 32,513 people filed for unemployment, making this week the sixth recorded decrease in initial claims since mid-March, according to the release.
In spite of that trend, in the past nine weeks 515,595 initial unemployment claims have been filed in South Carolina, DEW said.
In that time, the agency reports paying more than $1.35 billion in a combination of state unemployment benefits, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The FPUC program, funded by the federal CARES Act, gives $600 extra per week to South Carolinians who previously qualified for unemployment in the state, on top of the state benefits they already receive. The PUA program expands unemployment benefits to cover workers who otherwise wouldn’t qualify or who were deeply affected financially by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Throughout the duration of this crisis, our priority is processing claims and backdating payments appropriately. We want to reassure all claimants that if and when they are found eligible, critical payments will be paid to them,” DEW Executive Director Dan Ellzey said in the release. “Additionally, we are close to launching our third and final federal program, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which will be available to South Carolinians who exhaust their 20 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits and are still unemployed.”
DEW’s call center for unemployment claims fields an average of 80,000 calls per week, according to the release. The call center’s number is 866-831-1724, and it’s open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
The state labor agency said it is handling an unprecedented number of new claims. It’s a historic unemployment crisis that is expected to drain the state’s unemployment trust fund and require South Carolina to seek a federal loan, officials previously said.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
