‘Losses significant.’ KY unemployment claims in coronavirus pandemic top 850,000.
With more businesses reopening, the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits in Kentucky last week dropped by more than 10,000 from the week before.
There were 42,793 first-time claims for unemployment in the week ending May 30, down from 53,738 the week before and considerably below the 100,000-plus claims a week in late March and early April.
There have been a total of more than 880,000 initial jobless claims in the state since early March. Gov. Andy Beshear started ordering business shutdowns in March to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The number of initial claims has been equal to more than 40 percent of the state’s civilian labor force from February, the highest level in the U.S. in some analyses.
“Our losses have been significant,” Beshear said at his Wednesday news conference.
However, Beshear said the shutdowns successfully held down hospitalizations and the number of deaths from COVID-19. A University of Kentucky study confirmed that the shutdowns helped save lives.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 15.4 percent, the highest in generations.
That rate doesn’t match the number of initial unemployment claims, but the two figures are based on different calculations — one a tally of claims, the other an estimate based on surveys at a particular point in April, before some claims for benefits came in.
But both illustrate the deep gash in the state’s economy from the virus that causes COVID-19.
Beshear said that without federal assistance, the damage to the state’s budget will be devastating.
“We’re gonna have to have that federal assistance,” he said.
The state borrowed more than $900 million to pay unemployment claims during the 2008-09 recession, when the state’s unemployment rate was considerably below the April 2020 rate.
The state has struggled to process some claims, leaving some people without benefits weeks after they initially applied.
Beshear said Wednesday that about 90 percent of claims had been processed.
But 10 percent of the tide of claims is still a big number, and “it means that people are suffering and we’ve gotta do better,” Beshear said.
The state has made changes to try to improve processing of unemployment claims, and has whittled down the backlog.
Beshear also gave an update on how the pandemic has affected other programs, including significant increases in the number of people enrolled in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps.
The number of Kentuckians receiving food stamps has increased 22 percent since February, Beshear said.
