Unemployment claims in Idaho have ticked up for the second week in a row after significant declines from the beginning of the pandemic.
New first-time filings for unemployment totaled nearly 3,800 last week, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. That’s 4% more than the previous week which had shot up by double digits.
This new upward trend runs counter to the four-week average for initial claims dropping by 6%.
The number of Idahoans continuing to stay on unemployment dropped for the 16th consecutive week.
Those in the manufacturing, health care, administrative, hospitality and retail industries accounted for more than half of all claims last week. The largest number of those filing claims are between 25 and 44 years old.
Claims have quadrupled from this time last year and are slightly higher than at the height of the Great Recession.
Nearly $800 million in benefits related to the coronavirus have been paid out in Idaho, with the majority coming from the federal government.
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