New unemployment claims rise again in South Carolina over past week
New unemployment claims were on the rise in South Carolina over the past week.
More than 7,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits last week, snapping a recent trend, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce said Thursday in a news release.
Of those claims, 672 were issued in Richland County. That’s the second-most in the state over the past week, trailing Greenville (689) according to DEW.
In Lexington County, DEW reported 406 initial unemployment claims were issued.
From Aug. 9-15, 7,255 people filed for unemployment for the first time since testing for COVID-19 began in March, according to DEW.
That was a rise from the previous week, when 5,921 unemployment claims were made in South Carolina.
Overall in the past 21 weeks, the total number of initial claims has risen to 712,449, according to the release.
In that time, the agency reports paying more than $3.75 billion in a combination of state unemployment benefits, along with CARES Acts funds, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
“Although this week’s initial claims data exhibited an uptick, fluctuation of claims data is common. Our teams have reviewed the available information and there is no significant singular event that can account for the increase,” DEW Executive Director Dan Ellzey said in the release.
DEW’s call center number is 866-831-1724, and it’s open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Monday and Tuesday are the busiest days at the call center, while Saturday sees the lowest volume, according to the release.
“As we continue an overall downward trend in the numbers, it might present a more accurate picture to begin to look at initial claims data month-over-month rather than slight changes in week-over-week numbers,” Ellzey said. “For instance, the four-week period from claim week ending June 27 to claim week ending July 18 saw 67,248 initial claims; however the most recent four-week period from claim week ending July 25 to claim week ending August 15 saw 34,279 initial claims – nearly half of the number for the prior month’s time.”
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This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 9:04 AM.
