Richland County sees state-high 530 initial unemployment claims

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Initial unemployment filings in S.C. for the week ending Sept. 5 rose by 94 claims from the previous week.

The 5,113 claims filed brought the total number of initial claims in the past 25 weeks in the state to 735,360, according to data from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, which has paid more than $3.96 billion in a combination of state and federal benefits.

The 530 claims filed in Richland County for the week ending Sept. 5 represented a state high. Greenville County saw 458 claims, Charleston County had 331 and Spartanburg and Lexington counties each had 294.

Dan Ellzey, DEW executive director, said in a news release that the agency is focused on finalizing system change to begin processing Lost Wages Assistance, a Federal Emergency Management Agency program which will provide an additional $300 a week to eligible claimants. South Carolina was approved for the program last week.

Claimants will be required to complete a separate one-time certification for claim weeks ending Aug. 1, Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, Ellzey said.

“Initial claims remain steady in the latest reported claim week,” Ellzey said. “As we have previously mentioned, minor upticks should not be alarming as this is normal in data reporting.”