New unemployment claims up across the U.S. and in Mississippi

Across the U.S., more than 1.1 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 15.

During the previous week, the number of new claims dropped below 1 million for the first time in months. The rise reported this week indicates that companies are still laying off people, and that the economic conditions caused by COVID-19 are still a big factor in the country’s unemployment picture.

Continued claims — the insured unemployment rate — did see a drop of more than 600,000. That could mean that people have gone back to work, or it could mean that some folks’ benefits have run out. Most states, including Mississippi, offer a maximum of six months in benefits per year, although federal COVID-19 aid added another 13 weeks of benefits.

The national unemployment rate stubbornly holds to more than 10%, about where it was at the peak of the Great Recession more than a decade ago.

Mississippi’s first-time claims also ticked up after declining for the four prior weeks. New claims for the week ending Aug. 15 are 6,096. An additional 2,743 new claims were filed under the federal PUA program, which provides benefits to the self-employed, contractors and gig workers generally not eligible through state unemployment programs. All told, more than 8,800 Mississippians filed new unemployment claims.

Continued claims for insured (state) benefits fell by more than 8,500 claims in the week ending Aug. 8 to 126,517. The PUA program also saw a decline of 1,483 in the week ending Aug. 1 to 51,467.

Between new and continued claims in both programs, more than 135,000 Mississippians are jobless. For the week ending Aug. 8, the state’s unemployment rate was 12.5%, the highest it has been since the end of June.

For the month of June, Warren County’s unemployment rate was 10.7%, more than double the rate for March when COVID-19 was first confirmed in Mississippi. Unemployment within the City of Vicksburg was 13.3% in June, up from 4.8% in March.