Unemployment claims in Utah have skyrocketed. But the staff at the Utah Department of Workforce Services are working to handle a situation that is unprecedented in their history.
Earlier this week, we talked to Brooke Porter Coles, the spokeswoman for Workforce Services.
She noted that for the week of March 15th to the 21st, the state’s unemployment claims shot up by 1400 percent.
For the same week, Summit County filed 839 claims, or 5 percent of the state-wide total. Wasatch County recorded 386 claims, or two percent of the state total.
She said the virus outbreak upended what was a positive economic landscape for Utah.
“It is encouraging that Utah was in a really good place, practically the best it could be to enter a circumstance like this. We had record unemployment. We had a strong economy. Our trust funds, that unemployment claims are pulled from, was the seventh-strongest in the nation, still is. And so Utah is on strong footing to enter a difficult time like this. But, yeah, it happened practically overnight, which is nothing like a recession. A recession is gradual.”
She said that the only instances they’ve seen, close to this situation, are when the federal government has shut down.
Coles said the silver lining is the majority of their unemployment claims are “job-attached’ meaning the workers can return to their jobs when the situation normalizes.
Meanwhile, Workforce Services issued a press release announcing that the stimulus package enacted by Congress in late March, known as the CARES Act, includes three benefits that out-of-work individuals could qualify for.
The “Increased Unemployment Compensation Benefit would provide an emergency increase in traditional benefits, of $600 per week, through July 31st.
Next, the Pandemic Emergency Compensation provides an additional 13 weeks for people who have exhausted their traditional unemployment benefits.
And Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provides up to 39 weeks of benefits for those who have exhausted their regular benefits. This also applies to the self-employed, but the press release said this assistance is unprecedented for them, and they haven’t received guidance yet on how to administer the benefit.
For everybody with questions, Coles said they have set up a Virtual Workshop. It’s a live interactive session, 30 to 45 minutes long. It will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Friday. She said you can access the workshops online at “jobs.utah.gov/covid-19”
“They’ll talk about how to apply for unemployment benefits, for those that are finding the process confusing. They’ll talk about what temporary financial assistance may be available in addition to these unemployment benefits, and they’ll also go through tips for finding a new job.”
She said their offices are open. But they want to maintain social distancing and are asking citizens to use their website as much as possible.
“And our website really is a one-stop shop. They can access not only unemployment benefits but find job openings and other assistance like heat, or food stamps or medical assistance.”
Coles said to file an unemployment claim, you need to have your driver’s license on hand, as well as your Social Security number. One other item will be helpful.
“One thing we encourage people to have is a pay stub. Because one thing that will help your claim process faster is that you make sure that you have the correct name of your employer. I’ll give you an example. If someone works for Smith’s, and they put on their claim, “Smith’s” as their employer, Smith’s is actually technically called Kroger because the parent company is Kroger.”
She added that unemployment benefits will be taxed.
“You do have to pay taxes on these benefits that you receive. But you can choose not to pay those right now. You can waive having the taxes automatically pulled from the benefits that you receive. But when you file your taxes, you’ll have to then pay that.”
Brooke Porter Coles, for the Utah Division of Workforce Services.
