Idaho’s unemployment claims decrease for 20th consecutive week

Unemployment continued claims – the number of people who requested an unemployment benefit payment – continued to fall the week ending Sept. 19, dropping 7 percent from the previous week to 10,708, the 20th consecutive week of declines.

The four-week moving average for continued claims fell 10 percent - from 13,842 for the week ending Sept. 12 to 12,416 for the week ending Sept. 19.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits totaled 3,437 for the week ending Sept. 19, dropping by 6 percent - or 235 claims - from the previous week. The four-week moving average declined by 2.4 percent to 3,650 new initial claims per week.

The department paid out $7.8 million in claims during the week ending Sept. 19, down from $15 million for the week ending Sept. 12. The Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program paid out $.5 million, down from the prior week’s payout of $7.8 million. Regular state benefit payouts were $2.3 million, the same amount as the previous week, but 2.9 times higher than the same week in 2019. Of the CARES Act programs, Pandemic Extended Unemployment Compensation payments (PEUC) paid out $1.9 million, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) paid out $2.4 million and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) paid out just $.7 million.

Total benefit payments to laid-off Idahoans attributed to COVID-19 reached $868.8 million. Regular state unemployment insurance benefits made up $196.8 million of the total, with PEUC benefits at $28.6 million, PUA benefits at $64.7 million and FPUC payments at $536.5 million and LWA benefits at $42.2 million.

Additional information on weekly claims including county and industry details/breakdowns is available on Idaho’s claim data dashboard at https://lmi.idaho.gov/ui-weekly-claims.