Maine unemployment claims tick up slightly

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

There were 1,249 new applications for state unemployment benefits filed for the week that ended July 17 – up by 77 from the previous week, the federal agency reported on Thursday.

The state also reported 143 new claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, an increase of 80 from the prior week, according to the report.

Continuing unemployment claims – which lag behind a week but are viewed as a barometer of the jobless situation – totaled 9,152 in the week ending July 10, a drop of 97 over the preceding week.

Maine has distributed more than $2.3 billion in state and federal jobless benefits to about 380,000 jobless workers during the pandemic, according to state data.

The state’s unemployment rate remained steady at 4.8% in June, according to the Maine Department of Labor.

That’s down from a high of 9.1% last April but still higher than the state’s average 3% unemployment rate throughout 2019.

Despite that, Maine businesses are struggling to fill tens of thousands of jobs unfilled with the busy summer tourist season underway.

Gov. Janet Mills has reinstituted a work search requirement mandating that individuals receiving jobless benefits actively look for work if they are receiving unemployment benefits.

Mills has also rolled out a Back to Work” program that provides a $1,500 payment for eligible workers who begin new jobs. Part time workers are also eligible for a bonus.

Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment system is still under attack by fraudsters and international criminal gangs who continue to file bogus jobless claims.

During the week ending July 7, the state Labor Department said it rejected at least 1,008 initial jobless claims that were suspected to be fraudulent.

Nationally, there were 419,000 new claims filed in the week that ended July 17, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week, according to the labor department.

On a positive note, continuing claims dropped by 126,000 to 3.24 million nationally for the week that ended July 3. That’s a new pandemic low, according to the federal agency.

An estimated 12.5 million Americans were still receiving state or federal jobless benefits in the week ending July, the agency reported.

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