Unemployment Initial Claims Rise for Second Week in a Row

Initial claims for unemployment filed by Montgomery County residents, which had been decreasing for several weeks, rose for the second week in a row. During the week that ended March 20, county residents filed 2,401 initial claims. During the week ending March 13, 2,024 residents filed initial claims.

During the week that ending March 6, 897 county residents filed initial claims. During the week that ended Feb. 27, 1,304 residents filed, which is about 100 fewer than the 1,410 county residents who filed initial claims during the week that ended Feb. 20, according to the Maryland Department of Labor (DOL).

Initial claims filed throughout the state also rose. During the week that ended March 20, Marylanders filed 25,996 initial claims. The prior week, which ended March 13, 24,610 initial claims were filed. During the week that ended March 6, 13,582 state residents filed. During the week that ended Feb. 27, 12,124 Marylanders filed initial claims.

Maryland gained 6,800 jobs, and its unemployment rate dropped to 6.4% in January, which is the lowest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to DOL. In 2019, Maryland’s unemployment rate was 3.5%. At the end of 2020, it was 6.8%, according to BLS.

The national unemployment rate fell slightly in February to 6.2% It was 6.3% in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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County Initial Unemployment Claims More than Double in One Week

About Suzanne Pollak

Suzanne is a freelance reporter with Montgomery Community Media. She has over 35 years professional experience writing for newspapers, magazines, non-profit newsletters and the web.

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