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Coronavirus
Unemployment claims are “skyrocketing” across the state, according to a Georgia Department of Labor spokesperson, eclipsing numbers seen during the Great Recession less than a month after the Georgia Mountains region saw one of its best months on record for employment.
Kersha Cartwright, the communications director for the GDOL, said the labor department is working non-stop to process claims and get money in the hands of those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that has prompted millions of layoffs and furloughs nationwide.
“We’re trying to process claims as quickly as we can so that we can get people paid,” Cartwright told The Hartwell Sun on Tuesday. “Our goal is to bridge the pay gap from the time people are temporarily laid off until they can get back to work. We’re doing all that we can every single day to try to make that happen.”
The Georgia Mountains region, a 13-county region that includes Hart, set two records for its labor force and employment in February as the unemployment rate remained at 3 percent, down from 3.3 percent in February 2019. The labor force in the region increased in February by 2,218 to reach 356,039 total members, an all-time high according to the GDOL.
But all those gains are expected to be lost in March and April, Cartwright said. The regional and county numbers for unemployment in March won’t be available until about mid-April, Cartwright said, but she said there has been a huge influx of claims so far, more than what the labor department saw during the 2008 Great Recession.
“What we’re seeing is about 75 to 80 percent of our claims are employer filed claims. So that means the employer is filing on behalf of the employee with a return date in mind,” Cartwright said. “That employee is going to come back to work at some point, so that’s what we all want, is to get everybody back to work.”
The state is requiring employers to file claims on behalf of their employees, a process Cartwright says is much quicker and easier.
“Employees get their money quicker. It’s easier to go in and check your claims status. Everything just works better if employers file on behalf of employees that are temporarily laid off,” Cartwright said.
The GDOL has also extended the length of time an individual can collect benefits from 14 weeks to 26 weeks and ensured that employers’ unemployment insurance tax rate will not be affected by claims during this emergency.
During the week of March 15 to March 21, the labor department processed 12,140 initial unemployment claims, more than double the previous week’s 5,545 claims.
At the national level, unemployment claims spiked to 3.3 million last week, more than quadrupling the previous record high.
For more information about filing unemployment claims, how employers need to file partial claims and other resources, visit www.gdol.ga.gov.