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New claims for unemployment benefits in Texas, an early indicator of the jobless rate, fell 10 percent last week after a spike in claims the prior week.
About 106,000 people in Texas applied for unemployment benefits last week, down from 117,000 the week prior, according to the Department of Labor. It was the first time initial jobless claims in Texas have surpassed 100,000 for two consecutive weeks since May.
New jobless claims had largely slowed over the last three months from record highs in late March and early April, when initial claims surpassed 300,000 per week in Texas.
In the last two weeks, claims are running about eight times higher than pre-coronavirus rates. Typically, about 14,000 people apply for unemployment benefits in Texas each week.
Nationally, new claims for jobless benefits held steady, with 1.3 million applying last week, little changed from the week before. Claims, while still much higher than before shutdowns to slow the coronavirus, have slowed sig
nificantly since late March and early April, when they neared 7 million per week.
Unemployment benefits have been extended twice in Texas since the state triggered emergency federal programs after reporting high unemployment rates in April and May. Claimants will be eligible for more than a year of state benefits while unemployment rates remain elevated.
An additional $600 per week provided by the federal CARES Act, or Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, is slated to expire at the end of July unless extended by Congress, meaning hundreds of thousands of Texans will lose a boost to their income that was designed to make workers whole while the pandemic forced businesses to close and lay off employees. State benefits alone often replace just a fraction of normal wages.
Texas’ unemployment rate was 13.5 percent in April, the highest jobless rate on record, which goes back to 1976. The Texas Workforce Commission has paid out nearly $18 billion in unemployment benefits since the crisis began, according to agency data.