As Texas reopens, jobless claims continue
Unemployment rate has slowed, but numbers still highest on record
Another 128,000 people in Texas filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, even as states move forward in plans to reopen businesses following stayat-home orders mandated to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The rate of new unemployment insurance claims has significantly slowed in Texas for the last four weeks, but last week’s claims are still nine times higher than before the virus forced nonessential businesses to temporarily close and oil prices collapsed.
More than 2.2 million people have been left jobless in Texas since shutdowns began midMarch, according to data from the Labor Department. An oil price bust is contributing to the layoffs and furloughs throughout the state too, as companies slash their workforce and cut back on production.
The state’s unemployment rate was 12.8 percent in April, marking the highest since record-keeping began in 1976.
Nationally, the unemployment rate is near 15 percent. More than 40 million Americans have filed
first-time jobless claims since stay-at-home orders were first imposed in March, including 2.1 million last week.
The Texas Workforce Commission, the state’s unemployment agency, has paid $6.7 billion in unemployment benefits this year, according to agency data. Well over half of that has been paid with the federal government’s CARES Act programs, which expanded unemployment benefits to those who do not traditionally qualify, such as self-employed workers and independent contractors, and added $600 per week to the traditional amount of state benefits.
The virus is still spreading even as more Texans go back to work following the state’s lift of shutdown orders. Nearly 59,000 people in Texas have tested positive for the virus, and more than 1,500 have died.
Texas is allowing those at a high risk of becoming seriously ill from contracting COVID-19 as well as those who have high exposure to family members or others with COVID-19 to continue to receive unemployment benefits even if their employer makes an offer for them to return to work.
Decisions to allow workers to stay on unemployment benefits are evaluated by the state on a case-bycase basis. Typically, Texans cannot collect unemployment benefits if they are not actively searching for work or refuse suitable work.