Amid pandemic, Md. has spikes in out-of-state jobless claims
Between early March and late August, more Maryland unemployment claims came from workers living out of state than from residents of any one county, according to data released Thursday by the Maryland Department of Labor.
Nearly 160,000 claims came from individuals who reported living out of state but working in Maryland over the six-month span.
State officials have said that a surge in out-of-state claims led them to suspect insurance fraud, and as a result place holds on issuing out-of-state unemployment payments. The ensuing fraud investigation affected numerous unemployed Marylanders, some of whom saw their unemployment benefits withdrawn while it was underway.
The data released Thursday also included unemployment claims by ZIP code for the first time, in addition to more data about claims from various occupations. It provided the clearest picture yet about unemployment claims filed in the state during the pandemic.
Some of the ZIP codes hardest hit by the virus reported the highest volumes of claims. For instance, the five ZIP codes in Maryland with the most COVID-19 cases all reported more than 2,700 regular unemployment insurance claims each, which is on the high end of the spectrum provided by the state. This group includes Baltimore’s 21224, which covers Canton and Highlandtown.
Baltimore County had the largest total number of claims, followed by Prince George’s County and Baltimore City. Each of them reported more than 100,000 claims between March and August. These jurisdictions are the state’s most populous, as well as those with the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.
Baltimore City had the highest number of unemployment claims per 100 people, with about 19, followed by Worcester County — which is home to the popular vacation destination Ocean City — with about 17 per 100 residents. Baltimore County and Prince George’s counties were close behind.
When it comes to regular unemployment insurance claims, the most applications in the state came from workers in the accommodation and food service industry, with 101,900, followed by retail (86,570), then health care and social assistance (81,200).
Claims for CARES Act unemployment insurance programs, and for extended unemployment benefits, were led by the sales industry, with about 63,000. Next came personal care and service occupations, management occupations and food preparation- and serving-related occupations.
Maryland’s unemployment system has been fraught with problems during the pandemic.
Strained by hundreds of thousands of new claims and the fraud investigation, the system has been slow to award benefits to unemployed Marylanders, some of whom reported waiting for long periods of time to obtain benefits.