Unemployment claims continue to climb in Orleans
2,761 have now filed claims in the past 6 weeks
The number of people filing unemployment claims took another big jump last week in Orleans County and state-wide.
The claims state-wide remain at a pace 10 times or more of what they were a year ago when the economy wasn’t so restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State Department of Labor today released a report showing the unemployment claims filed last week. In Orleans County, there were 326 claims filed, which compares with 55 during the same week a year ago. week.
Statewide there were 222,040 claims filed last week. A year ago, there were 18,889 unemployment claims during the third week of April.
State-wide there have been 1,640,159 unemployment claims during seven weeks – March 14, 21 and 28, and April 4, 11, 18 and 25. That compares with 96,080 the previous year during those seven weeks.
Orleans County has now had 2,761 people file unemployment claims during the past six weeks since the state started closing businesses due to health concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic.
The county has a workforce of about 17,000 people. The 2,761 unemployment claims represent about 16 percent of the workforce. There were about 1,000 people on unemployment before the pandemic. Those people plus the 2,761 who recently filed for unemployment would put the county’s unemployment rate currently over 20 percent.
Here are the weekly unemployment claims the past six weeks in the GLOW counties and statewide:
- Genesee: 589 (April 25), 421 (April 18), 931 (April 11), 886 (April 4), 1,308 (March 28), 268 (March 21)
- Livingston: 490 (April 25), 403 (April 18), 918 (April 11), 996 (April 4), 1,338 (March 28), 227 (March 21)
- Orleans: 326 (April 25), 297 (April 18), 581 (April 11), 595 (April 4), 824 (March 28), 138 (March 21)
- Wyoming: 326 (April 25), 266 (April 18), 601 (April 11), 603 (April 4), 837 (March 28), 155 (March 21)
- Statewide: 222,040 (April 25), 207,172 (April 18), 399,015 (April 11), 347,573 (April 4), 369,025 (March 28), 80,753 (March 21)
