Press Release
September 17, 2020

Utah’s Unemployment Insurance Claims Report (September 6-12)

SALT LAKE CITY (September 17, 2020) — The number of total new claims filed for unemployment benefits in Utah was 4,193 for the week of September 6-12, 2020 with a total of $39,135,890 of benefits paid. There were 50,025 continued claims filed during that same week.

 

New Unemployment Insurance Claims - September 6-12
	Traditional Benefits	% Change	Pandemic Unemployment Assistance	% Change	Extended Benefits	% Change
09/06 to 09/12	2,298		709		1,186
Week Prior (08/30 to 09/05)	2,612	-12%	765	-7.11%	1,159	2.3%
Continued Unemployment Insurance Claims - September 6-12
	Traditional Benefits	% Change	Pandemic Unemployment Assistance	% Change	Extended Benefits	% Change
09/06 to 09/12	35,649		5,340		9,036
Week Prior (08/30 to 09/05)	40,782	-12.6%	5,430	-1.711%	8,449	6.9%
New and Continued Claim Comparison Current Week / Previous Week / 2019 Weekly Average				Total New Claims and Benefits Paid March 15 to September 12, 2020
	Current Week  (08/30 - 09/05)	Previous Week  (08/30 - 09/05)	2019 Weekly Average	Traditional (State)	PUA (Federal)	Extended (Federal)
New Claims	4,193	4,563	1,131	235,719	46,191	17,844
Continued Claims	50,025	54,661	8,856	$490,677,391	$55,084,217	$31,768,419
			$600 Stimulus (Expired July 25, 2020)		$845,234,467
			Lost Wages Assistance (Expired September 5, 2020)		$24,460,200

 

The number of individuals who have not requested a benefit for two consecutive weeks as of September 5, 2020 was 3,735. A total of 13,290 met the same criteria during the previous week. 

“We are happy to report that the first three weeks of Lost Wages Assistance began to be paid last week and the final three weeks of benefits began this week,” said Kevin Burt, Unemployment Insurance Division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.  “Lost Wages Assistance is one of eight new federal programs that have been successfully stood up by the Unemployment Insurance Division since mid-March to help Utahns that have seen their employment disrupted due to this pandemic.”   

Lost Wages Assistance is only available to each state for a total of six weeks. The six week period runs from July 26, 2020 through September 5, 2020. The limit of six weeks is a result of high state participation and capped funding availability to the program. Individuals are eligible if their weekly unemployment benefit amount was at least $100, they were eligible for one of the standard unemployment programs during the applicable time period and they were unemployed or partially unemployed as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Benefits will be automatically calculated and distributed during the month of September based on unemployment claims already received; individuals do not need to call or apply separately for this benefit. 

New Claims (Weekly)

Continued Claims (Weekly)

If an individual's employment has been impacted by COVID-19, they should visit jobs.utah.gov/covid19 for updated information including help for employees and employers returning to work.

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