Slight uptick in Anne Arundel jobless claims

Jobless claims filed in Anne Arundel County increased by 17% last week with more than 830 residents seeking unemployment insurance benefits theweek ending Sept. 12.

More than 13,570 people filed a new claim across Maryland, a slight bump after a three-week stretch where more than 11,000 people applied for benefits each week.

The hike comes the week before Maryland began offering week after an additional $300 provided by the federal government in addition to state benefits on Sept. 11. The “Lost Wages Assistance” program is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and provides retroactive benefits for laid of for furloughed workers who qualify.

Maryland received a federal grant of $718 million to fund six-weeks of $300 FEMA program payments. The programis intended as a temporary measure pending congressional action.

Senate Democrats rejected a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday as the parties argued to a standstill over the size and scope of the aid, likely ending hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election.

Nationally, the Labor Department said Thursday that U.S. jobless claims fell by 33,000 form the previous week and that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, comparedwith just 1.7 million a year ago.

The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, collapsed at an annual rate of 31.7% fromApril through June, by far the worst three months on record, as millions of jobs disappeared.

The economy and job market have recovered somewhat from the initial shock. Employers added 10.6 million jobs fromMay through August, but that’s still less than half the jobs lost inMarch and April.

Therecovery remains fragile, imperiled by continuing COVID-19 infections as schools begin to reopen, and the failure to deliver another economic rescue package in Washington.