Since week ending March 21, 2020, 5,011,446 regular UI initial claims have been processed, breaking the 5 million plateau, and totaling more than the 10 years prior to the pandemic combined (4.8 million). Last week, regular UI initial claims totaled 13,406, up 1,421 over the week. Initial claims are defined as any notice of unemployment filed to request a determination of entitlement to or eligibility of unemployment insurance compensation or to begin a second or subsequent period of eligibility within a benefit year. Initial claims numbers are not a direct correlation to layoffs.
The GDOL has paid almost $23 billion in state and federal benefits in the past 72 weeks. Last week, the GDOL issued almost $24 million in benefits, which included regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and State Extended Benefits.
Resources for reemployment assistance along with information on filing an unemployment claim and details on how employers can file partial claims can be found on the agency's webpage at https://dol.georgia.gov. Job listings and job search assistance can be found on https://employgeorgia.com.