Maine unemployment claims drop slightly

(The Center Square) – New claims for unemployment benefits in Maine dropped slightly last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly report.

There were 717 new filings for state jobless benefits filed for the week that ended Feb. 19, the agency reported on Thursday. That’s 27 fewer than the prior week.

Continuing state jobless claims – which lag behind a week – totaled 7,877 in the week ending Feb. 12. That’s 376 fewer than the previous week.

The state has distributed more than $2.5 billion in state and federal jobless benefits to more than 400,000 jobless workers during the pandemic, according to state data.

Maine’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.7% in December, according to the Maine Department of Labor.

Nationally, there were 232,000 new claims filed in the week that ended Feb. 19, according to the U.S. Labor Department. That’s 17,000 more than the previous week.

Continuing jobless claims for the week that ended Feb. 12 declined by 112,000 over the preceding week, with more than 1.47 million claims filed, the agency said.

Overall, more than 2 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits in the week ending Feb. 5, according to the agency’s report.

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