Unemployment claims increase in Wyoming

It is still unknown how dire the effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will be on our economy as Carbon County, Wyoming and the nation are still dealing with the spread of the virus. According to a report from the United States Department of Labor, seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending March 21 rose to 3.2 million. The previous week was 282,000.

“This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series,” the report read.

The previous high was 695,000 in 1982.

On the state level, Wyoming saw an increase of initial claims of nearly 2,000 for the weekend ending March 21. According to the same report from the Department of Labor, the previous week saw initial claims of 517, which increased to 2,339. The industry that saw the largest claims was that of leisure and hospitality.

According to data from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, initial claims for unemployment insurance in that industry increased from 88 to 956. The second largest increase in the report was under “unknown,” which saw an increase from 72 to 334 within one week.

It should be noted that the number of initial claims seen between March 14 and March 21 is a different set of data from the state’s unemployment rate. Ty Stockton, communications manager for Wyoming Workforce Services, pointed out that the unemployment rate published each month is based on statistical sampling of households in Wyoming. Essentially, the number of initial claims is not the unemployment rate.

Carbon County, for the moment, has seen little increase in initial claims. For the weekend ending March 14, there had been five initial claims. That number increased by 21, with initial claims of 26 for the week ending March 21.

On March 25, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Director Robin Cooley spoke at a press conference about her department’s efforts in the midst of the global pandemic and its effects on Wyoming.

“We have increased our staffing in our workforce claims center. We’ve got about … 15 additional individuals that we’ve put towards taking those claims, answering questions. We’ve got questions coming in from both claimants and businesses and we are wearily working to maintain and stay ahead of some of those claims coming in and the questions,” said Cooley.

Cooley added that, even with the spike in initial claims for unemployment insurance, her department was handling the influx of claims.

“Those who file their claims can still expect to receive their benefits in under two days from the time they file them,” Cooley said.

Due to being considered essential personnel, all Wyoming Workforce Services locations are still operating with people in the office. Cooley reminded those listening to the press conference, however, that any claims for unemployment insurance should be made either by the phone or online. She added that this would ensure the safety of both the public and the employees within the department as they processed the incoming claims.

During that same press conference, Cooley also brought up the status of Wyoming’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. It is through this fund that Wyoming Workforce Services are able to payout benefits to those filing claims for unemployment insurance. According to the director, Wyoming’s trust fund was one of the healthiest in the nation before COVID-19 arrived.

“We’ve been keeping our eye on that fund and are trying to do some modeling to ensure that we maintain the health of that fund but when we compare this pandemic’s effects to the downturn in 2008, 2009, 2010 when we were in the great recession—which was the worst one in the history of our Wyoming UI situation—we feel we are in a very good place with our fund,” said Cooley.

The most recent report put out by the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, which included data from January 2020, had the number of unemployed in the state at 12,562 and Wyoming’s unemployment rate at 3.7 percent. The data for February 2020 will have been released on March 31, which means that the total effects of COVID-19 on the workforce and unemployment in Wyoming won’t be seen until later in the year.