Delaware is still paying out more than $10 million a week in unemployment benefits, the state Labor Department reported.
The state pays about a third of those costs from an unemployment insurance fund that is financed by employers and employees. The remainder comes from the federal government.
The state plans to use a large portion of the more than $1 billion it received in Cares Act funding to shore up the unemployment insurance system, which in normal times pays out a fraction of current benefits. The latest report from the state labor department offered the following:
- 143,557 in. jobless claims filed since the coronavirus pandemic.
- 1,776 Initial claims received from 9/27 – 10/3.
Total benefits paid from since the pandemic took hold in mid-March (See graphic below)
- $858,094,995 in unemployment benefits paid
- $604,705,387 paid from Federal Government
- $252,859,178 paid from Delaware UI Trust Fund
- 12,077 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed since 5/16
- 7,713 PUA claims paid since 5/16
- $84,030,828 in PUA benefits paid since 5/16/2020
Delaware’s unemployment rate has been running ahead of the national average and well above the figure for neighboring Maryland.
Maryland, whose governor, has been touting the state’s lower unemployment rate did get some bad news this week when initial jobless claims rose above 3,000, according to the weekly report from the United States Department of Labor.
Initial jobless claims in Delaware were 1,658, down from 1,815.
Maryland, like Delaware, has been under fire from some critics who claim Delaware and its neighbors were too slow to lift restrictions on businesses and other public places.
