SALT LAKE CITY — The number of new claims filed for unemployment benefits in Utah was 19,751 for the week of April 12 to April 18, 2020.
Part of the Unemployment Insurance system is filing a weekly claim, there were 95,376 weekly claims filed during that same week.
A total of $17,415,394 was paid in traditional unemployment benefits reflecting payments going out and claims being processed in the midst of a record volume.
An additional $42,553,770 of the $600 weekly stimulus was paid out to claimants, for a total of $59,969,164 in unemployment benefits for the week.
A total of 7,062 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims were submitted in the first week of the program.
Kevin Burt, the state's Unemployment Insurance Division Director explained how the process work.
"We look at how much earnings you had in the last 15 months," Burt said. "Every Sunday you file a weekly claim stating did you work, and you say yes, and then you have to put how much did you earn that week." What it does is it will take how much you earned that week and calculates whether you continue to be eligible and it will prorate it."
It is currently taking 21 to 30 day to process benefit claims.
Burt is asking residents to not call the Department of Workforce Services as that could slow down the process for everyone.
Instead, go to this webpage for a list of questions and answers and to get help with the process.
The number of individuals who ended their unemployment insurance claim on April 11, 2020 was 1,906.
A total of 1,122 ended their claim during the previous week.
As the state continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, this number will help demonstrate the number of individuals no longer accessing unemployment benefits.
The three industries that saw the highest percentage of claims this week, as self-identified by the claimant at the time of their filing, were Office and Administrative Support (13.4%), Sales and Related Occupations (11.4%), and Food Preparation and Serving (9.0%).
The five counties in Utah that had the highest number of individuals file new unemployment insurance claims were Salt Lake (40.4%), Utah (13.4%), Weber (9.6%), Davis (9.4%), and Washington (4.2%).