S.C. unemployment claims drop for 2nd straight week

Listen to this article

For the second straight week, unemployment claim filings dropped in South Carolina, with 65,159 people filing a claim for the week of April 19 to April 25.

That’s down 7,957 claims from the previous week, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Workforce.

For the week ending April 18, 73,116 claims were filed, a decrease of 14,570 from the week before and the first drop since the week ending March 14, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to greatly affect numbers.

In the last six weeks, a total of 406,889 initial claims have been filed, DEW said. The agency has paid more than $585 million in combination of state benefits and federal COVID-19 unemployment relief programs.

For the week ending April 25, 8,809 claims were filed in Greenville County, while 6,326 were filed in Spartanburg County. Horry County saw 5,745 claims, Charleston County 5,496, Richland County 4,137 and Lexington County 2,872.

On April 24, DEW launched a self-service application process for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits, which cover freelancers, independent contractors and gig economy workers. The agency said it has authorized more than $4.6 PUA payments.

DEW’s call center has extended hours from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday.