More Texans filed for unemployment in past 4 weeks than all of 2019 amid coronavirus
More than 761,000 Texans have filed for unemployment in the past four weeks — more than the total number of claims filed in 2019.
The stark increase in claims comes amid layoffs, reduced hours and businesses forced to close in light of the novel coronavirus’ spread and stay-at-home orders.
In the week ending on April 4, 313,832 Texans filed for unemployment insurance — a 13.6% increase from the 276,185 Texans who had filed the week before, according to figures released Thursday from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Meanwhile in 2019, nearly 689,000 unemployment claims had been filed by Texans for the entire year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s figures. Nationwide, 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week.
Gov. Greg Abbott first declared a state of disaster due to the novel coronavirus’ spread on March 13. That week ending on March 14, 16,176 Texans had filed for unemployment.
The following week on March 19, Abbott issued an executive order that temporarily closed all Texas schools and gyms, prohibited dining-in at bars and restaurants, limited visits to nursing homes and restricted social gatherings to 10 people. In the week ending on March 21, an additional 155,426 Texans had submitted unemployment claims.
Abbott issued an executive order on March 31 requiring Texans to stay at home and closing businesses deemed “non-essential,” including tattoo and piercing studios and cosmetology salons.
And there’s likely even more Texans who have attempted to file claims, but have been unable to. The Texas Workforce Commission has been overwhelmed, with Texans reporting difficulties filing for benefits because of the swamped system.
In a press conference Thursday, Abbott said the Texas Workforce Commission saw its largest spike in calls ever to its benefits claims line on March 26, with about 1.7 million calls received in one day. The line usually averages about 120,000 calls a day, Abbott said.
“The Workforce Commission has taken in more than 600,000 claims already in a two-week period since the coronavirus-fueled spike occurred,” Abbott said. “And they will likely process even more claims in the five-week period that started in March than it did in all of 2019.”
The agency has brought on hundreds of additional staff to help process the surge Abbott said, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Tuesday that nearly 200 staffers from his office and Texas senators have volunteered to help the Texas Workforce Commission, with their training beginning Thursday.
Abbott said the agency is encouraging Texans whose claims were previously denied to reapply, because they may now qualify under expanded programs to combat the record job losses. The agency has previously recommended the hours of 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. as the best time to apply online.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 10:27 AM with the headline "More Texans filed for unemployment in past 4 weeks than all of 2019 amid coronavirus."
