Initial unemployment claims in South Carolina remained high during the week ending January 16, 2021 – but dropped modestly for two consecutive weeks after peaking earlier in the year. Unfortunately, claims-related payments are increasing again – and approaching the $ 5 billion marks since the coronavirus pandemic began to impact the global economy in mid-March.
We will have a more complete picture of the employment situation in the state of Palmetto next Tuesday (January 26, 2021), when the monthly state employment data is released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
For now, we know there were 6,683 initial unemployment claims filed in South Carolina last week – below the 8,635 claims filed in the previous week and the 9,328 claims filed the previous week, according to federal data released by the SC Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW).
Since the start of Covid-19, a total of 825,538 claims were made in Palmetto State – or one claim for every three members of the workforce.
To put these numbers in perspective, a little less than 2,100 the initial claims were made during the week ending March 14, 2020 – which, as we often observe, was probably the last “normal” week that the country’s economy will see for some time.
The worst of the carnage was inflicted during the week ending April 11, 2020 – when a record 87,686 initial claims have been filed. During the first ten weeks of Covid-19 blocks – from March 14 to May 23, 2020 – average initial complaints 54,054 per week.
Those are positively apocalyptic numbers, folks … and it is frankly a miracle that the economy did not completely collapse during this brutal two-month period.
Fortunately, the trend lines continued to narrow. The claims finally fell below the 10,000 threshold by July – and were starting to approach pre-pandemic levels in late November.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: SCDEW)
As for the total number of claimants receiving benefits, that number has skyrocketed 100,000 – with 103,206 South Carolina workers receiving benefits during the week ending January 16. Two weeks ago, 70,944 Workers in the state of Palmetto were unemployed.
The costs associated with paying these claimants have also skyrocketed – with last week’s total payment reaching $ 64.43 million. Two weeks ago, that total had dropped to $ 18.68 million.
Driving these increases? The decision of the former US president Donald Trump to sign a second Covid-19 “stimulus” package last month that included $ 120 billion expanding federal unemployment benefits.
US President Joe Biden and the new Democratic majority in Congress is likely to extend these expanded unemployment benefits even further before they expire on March 14, 2021.
Since March 15, 2020 a surprising $ 4.92 billion in unemployment benefits were paid in South Carolina – including $ 1.1 billion state unemployment insurance (SD) fund.
State lawmakers have reduced that fund, but it remains to be seen whether companies will receive another tax increase to pay the cost of these benefits …
-FITSNews
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