Unemployment Claims Continue to Drop in Montgomery County

More than 3,500 Montgomery County residents filed for unemployment claims during the week that ended June 27, according to data from the Maryland Department of Labor.

The previous week, which ended June 20, 4,800 claims were filed.

While Montgomery County’s unemployment numbers continue to decrease, statewide the number of initial claims increased.

Of the 3,510 new claims in Montgomery County, a combined 1,452 stemmed from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistant (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs established as part of the $2 trillion stimulus package signed amid COVID-19.

The state has expedited claims processing which resulted in the reclassification of some typical unemployment insurance claims. A total of 766 claims were reclassified under PUA in Montgomery County during the week that ended June 27.

A total of 56,126 residents statewide filed initial unemployment claims during the week that ended June 27. For the prior week, 47,801 Marylanders filed.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate declined to 11.1 percent, which is a drop of 2.2 percentage points.

The number of unemployed persons fell by 3.2 million to 17.8 million. Many of the job gains were in retail trade, education and health services, manufacturing, and professional and business services.

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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