Utah Sees Drop In New Jobless Claims
Dec 3, 2020, 9:05 AM | Updated: 9:33 am
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah saw its new jobless claims drop by 951 applications last week, according to the Department of Workforce Services.
For the week ending Nov. 28, a total of 3,519 workers filed for new unemployment benefits. For the week prior, 4,470 people had filed new claims.
However, state officials report the steep decline could be artificially low due to the holiday.
Last week, 27,213 residents filed continued claims, which is a slight decrease from the week before when DWS reported 28,002 continued claims.
As of Nov. 21, 2,567 individuals had stopped requesting benefits for two consecutive weeks.
“While we did see a marked decrease in the number of new unemployment claims for the week, this may be artificially low as a result of the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. “The need for unemployment benefits remains, unfortunately the additional benefits provided by the CARES Act are set to expire on December 26, 2020, including the Pandemic Unemployment for the self-employed and the 13 week Extended Unemployment benefits.”
Nationwide, approximately 712,000 workers filed for new unemployment benefits. That number also dropped from the previous week, when the Labor Department reported 787,000 new jobless claims had been filed.
If an individual’s employment has been impacted by COVID-19, they should visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19 for updated information including help for employees and employers returning to work.