STATE EXPECTS NO LAPSE IN JOBLESS BENEFITS THIS TIME

Three times in the past year, a sharply divided Congress has approved federal unemployment benefits for those thrown out of work by the pandemic. And, twice, the actions have resulted in interrupted payments to jobless Georgians.

But the latest 25-week extension

— part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed into law Thursday by President Biden — will not disrupt the flow of benefit money, state officials said.

“We do not believe there are new requirements, the way there were last time,” said Kersha Cartwright, spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor. “We

do not anticipate a gap in payments.”

This time, only minor software adjustments are needed, department officials said.

That’s good news for the roughly 450,000 Georgians who are receiving payments from the federal government, state government or both.

Last week, 24,974 new claims for unemployment benefits were processed by the Georgia Department of Labor, down 3,413 from the prior week. That is far lower than the stratospheric highs of last spring, but still more than four times the pre-pandemic level. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly 4.5 million claims have been processed by the department, more than the previous nine years combined.

Nationally, the number of initial claims filed throughout the United States for the week ending March 6 was 712,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week. The U.S. economy has about 9.5 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s unemployment rate edged down in January.

With vaccinations starting to roll out, more than 24,000 Georgians found work during the month as the jobless rate dipped to 5.1% from 5.3% in

December, according to the state Department of Labor.

The state’s economy has about 215,100 fewer jobs than it did a year ago. But there are nearly that many on the state’s job board, said Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.

“I look forward to getting more Georgians back to work,” he said.

More than half the jobs listed on Employgeorgia pay more than $40,000 a year, Butler said.

One sign of optimism is an increase in the number of people either working or looking for work. That number rose by 12,171 in January.

The job report on February will be released later this month.