New claims for unemployment benefits filed by Lancaster Countians remained elevated last week by fresh filings from people who already were unemployed but have exhausted their first round of benefits, new data shows.
Although new claims dropped slightly by 4.0% to 602 claims they exceeded 500 for the fifth straight week, according to figures released by the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board on Thursday.
New claims had dwindled into the 200s in late February and early March, until getting inflated anew by the timetable undergirding the claims process.
Hundreds of people who were laid off at the start of the pandemic, which began in March 2020, now are seeing their initial year of benefits end. So theyâre filing new claims, hoping to get another year of regular unemployment compensation or extended benefits, a board official explained.
Number of Lancaster Countians getting laid off declines 15%, new report shows lancasteronline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lancasteronline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The number of new layoffs in Lancaster County fell 17.5% last week, edging closer to the volume that was typical here before COVID-19 arrived in mid-March, a local indicator shows.
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 344, according to preliminary figures released by the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board on Thursday, declining for the fifth time in the past six weeks.
Prior to the pandemic, about 200 county residents were laid off a week, based on the number of new claims filed.
A leading indicator of unemployment in Lancaster County dropped significantly closer to its …
But that changed dramatically when the coronavirus appeared, leading Gov. Tom Wolf to issue stay-at-home orders and shutdowns of non-essential businesses. Those orders, in turn, triggered massive layoffs that pushed new claims to a peak of 15,700 in the first week of April.