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FThe first claims for unemployment benefits in Maine fell last week, according to the US Department of Labor’s weekly report, a sign that the state’s economy and post-pandemic hiring is rebounding.
There were 811 new state unemployment claims filed for the week ending July 31 – down 105 from the previous week, the federal agency reported on Thursday.
The state also reported 136 new requests for federal assistance in an unemployment pandemic, a decline of three requests from the previous week, according to the report.
Persistent jobless claims – which are one week behind but are seen as a barometer of the unemployment situation – totaled 8,063 in the week ending July 24, a drop of 176 from the previous year. previous week.
Maine distributed more than $ 2.3 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits to about 380,000 unemployed people during the pandemic, according to state data.
The state’s unemployment rate remained stable at 4.8% in June, according to the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL).
That’s down from a high of 9.1% last April, but still above the state’s average unemployment rate of 3% throughout 2019.
Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment system is still under attack by international fraudsters and criminal gangs who continue to file bogus unemployment claims.
In the week ending July 7, MDOL said it rejected at least 1,008 original unemployment claims suspected of being fraudulent.
Nationally, 385,000 new claims were filed in the week ending July 31, down 14,000 from the previous week, according to the Labor Ministry.
Continuing claims increased from 366,000 to 2.93 million nationally for the week ending July 24. This is a new pandemic low, according to the federal agency.
An estimated 12.9 million Americans were still receiving state or federal unemployment benefits during the week ending July 17, the agency reported.
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Keywords: States, News, Maine, Unemployment
Original author: Christian Wade, The central square
Original location: Unemployment claims down in Maine
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