Over 45,000 South Mississippians have now filed for first-time unemployment amid COVID-19
April employment was bleak in South Mississippi and across the United States.
Another 6,824 people filed unemployment claims for the first time during the week ending May 2 in the six counties of South Mississippi. That puts the total since March 21 at 45,359 new claims over six weeks.
Before that about 1,000 people filed first-time claims each week in the entire state.
New unemployment claims for the week ending May 2 are:
- George — 258 (1,227 total)
- Hancock — 600 (3,743 total)
- Harrison — 3,315 (23,192)
- Jackson — 2,003 (13,665 total)
- Pearl River — 467 (2,489 total)
- Stone — 181 (1,043 total)
Peak claims were April 4 in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties, April 11 in Stone County and May 2 in George and Pearl River counties.
How bad is it?
A flurry of reports this week indicate just how deep the coronavirus has hurt the country.
▪The U.S. unemployment rate rose by 10.3 percentage points in April to 14.7 percent., the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That is the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the records, dating back to 1948.
▪ Mississippi’s unemployment rate was 12.2% as of April 18, according to this week’s report from the Department of Labor. Vermont had the highest in the country at 25%.
▪ Mississippi had 24,810 new claims last week, down more than 5,000 from the previous week, as more businesses open and more people get through the Department of Employment Security to file their claims.
▪ Associated Press reported the February unemployment rate was a five-decade low of 3.5%, and employers had added jobs for a record 113 months. In March, the unemployment rate was just 4.4%.
▪ In the five weeks covered by the U.S. jobs report, AP said 26.5 million people filed first time unemployment claims. About 75% of the claims are considered temporary.
▪ The U.S. rate was 13.0% for adult men, 15.5% for adult women, 31.9% for teenagers, 14.2% for Whites, 16.7% for blacks, 14.5% for Asians, and 18.9% for Hispanics.
▪ Especially hard-hit, according to the reports, are jobs in hospitality and leisure, restaurants, education, entertainment and retail. Government jobs haven’t been hit as hard yet, but that could come as tax revenues decline for cities and states.
Coast casino employees help MDES
Scarlet Pearl Casino in D’Iberville isn’t yet open but 30 employees are working to answer calls from people trying to file a first-time unemployment claim.
Mississippi Department of Employment Security Executive Director Jackie Turner said Thursday the casino management volunteered its staff, who already have background checks and a compatible phone system, to answer phones for the agency.
These employees from the hotel reservations and casino host department accept calls from the main MDES number and operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight.
The casino is the first private business in Mississippi to make the offer to help.
“Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort will not sit on the sidelines when our community is in need,” said LuAnn Pappas, CEO of Scarlet Pearl. “Scarlet Pearl is proud of our ‘caring culture’ that serves customers, associates and the Mississippi Gulf Coast community. Helping MDES accomplishes all three.”
Nine times the staffing
Turner told the Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committee on Thursday that her agency had about 55 people staffing the call centers before the pandemic began, and now has about 450 staff members and contract workers.
The biggest problems now are an antiquated phone system that was scheduled to be replaced, she said, and the slow process of getting background checks for people to handle investigations.
Now that fewer people are filing new claims, she said more staff can be moved to investigations once their background check is complete.
The department also sent out mass emails, she said, to people who signed up for benefits but didn’t follow through with their weekly certification. There were 30,000 of those a few weeks ago before the emails went out.
Many of these people have never had to file for unemployment before, she said, and aren’t familiar with how the process works.
