New Unemployment Claims Dropped Last Week
June 25, 2020
LINCOLN - The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) announced today that new regular unemployment claims dropped 10.8 percent last week, with 4,342 new claims the week ending June 20, compared to 4,869 the prior week. There were 1,159 new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed last week compared to 1,093 the prior week. Spreadsheets showing regular and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims data are available here and will be updated every Thursday. An interactive dashboard can be found here.
There were 55,049 continued weeks of unemployment claimed last week, a decrease of 0.7 percent from the prior week, when 55,457 claims were filed. Continued weeks refer to the individual weeks of unemployment claimed after a person applies for benefits. Weekly certifications are required in order to claim continued weeks of unemployment and receive payment. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the highest number of continued weeks was in the second week of 2010 when there were 26,075 continued weeks claimed. There were 25,801 continued weeks of PUA claimed last week, compared to 24,511 the prior week.
A total of $61.4 million in benefits was paid last week, including regular, PUA, $600 CARES Act payments, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PUEC), which provide an additional 13 week of benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular benefits. Regular and PUA benefits paid each week can be found here.
With the lifting of Directed Health Measures, 80 percent of the top 50 occupations with the highest number of weeks claimed have seen a drop of 4 percent or greater since the week ending May 9. Additionally, 64 percent of top 50 occupations with the highest number of weeks claimed have seen a 10 percent or greater drop since the week ending May 9. The top occupations going back to work are dental workers; personal care workers, such as hairdressers and manicurists; retail salespersons, and food service workers.
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