Delaware is still seeing a sizable decline in initial unemployment claims.
A weekly report from the WalletHub financial advice website showed the state ranking seventh in the decline in the number of jobless claims during the previous week and 18th overall since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in mid-March.
That sharper decline has shown up in a number of East Coast states. (Check out the map below for rankings of individual states).
The decline does not fully explain Delaware ranking seventh-highest in its unemployment rate. The state’s jobless rate in May was 15.8 percent, well above the national rate of 13.2 percent.
By contrast, neighboring Maryland’s jobless rate is around 10 percent. However, Maryland is not seeing as big a slowdown in initial jobless claims as Delaware and Pennsylvania. Maryland did see an increase in health care employment, while the job declines occurred in all categories in Delaware.
It is possible that Delaware employers were quicker to lay off workers than in other states. It is known that some owners of restaurant chains were quick to lay off hundreds of workers in March. Others kept staff in place with Payroll Protection Act funds. Delaware’s hospitality industry has lost 30,000 jobs over the past year.
Economists are now eyeing a second wave of layoffs as companies go through PPP money. PPP loans are partially or completely forgiven if workers were kept on the payroll.
Also coming to an end in late July is an unemployment program that pays $600 a week.
The benefit is sometimes in excess of what the employee was receiving when working at the employer. That has created friction in some cases as employees are recalled when businesses reopen and benefits end.
