BOISE, Idaho — The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits increased from last week, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. 4,285 was the total for the week ending on June 20, which is 18 percent more (654 claims) when compared to the previous week. The four-week moving average, however, declined three percent to an average of 3,879 new initial claims per week.
The number of people who requested a benefit payment dropped by 10 percent from the previous week, marking the seventh consecutive week of declines. The four-week moving average for continued claims also fell from 48,068 for the week ending on June 13, to 42,160 for the week ending on June 20.
Idahoans who were laid off filed 157,143 initial claims for unemployment benefits during the 14 weeks since the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration. That is 2.7 times the total number of initial claims filed in all of 2019. 75 percent of the initial claims filed were in the first six weeks of the pandemic.
The department paid $52.8 million in claims during the week of June 14 through June 20, which is down from $86 million the week of June 7 through June 13. Of that amount, regular state unemployment benefit payouts were $10.4 million, which is a slight increase from $10.3 million the previous week. Of the CARES Act programs, Pandemic Extended Unemployment payments (PEUC) were $1.2 million, with payouts for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) at $4.3 million and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) at $36.9 million.
As of June 20, total benefit payments attributed to COVID-19 layoffs reached $522 million. Unemployment insurance regular benefits account for $132.7 million of the total, with PEUC benefits at $6.8 million, PUA benefits at $27 million and FPUC payments at $355.4 million.
