New Jersey saw an abrupt spike in new claims for unemployment last week as the COVID-19 global pandemic, which shattered the national economy, enters its sixth month, leaving nearly 1.6 million New Jerseyans out of work.
For the week ending Sept. 5, 21,991 New Jerseyans filed for unemployment, compared to 19,141 New Jerseyans who sought jobless claims the week before, according to Thursday morning data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The first case of COVID-19 in New Jersey was recorded on March 4. Five days later, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency. Over the next few weeks, he enacted sweeping restrictions meant to stomp out the spread of the virus, including a stay-at-home order, a ban on most forms of travel and the closing of retail, restaurants, malls, casinos, theaters, gyms, hair and nail salons, construction and many other businesses. Those restrictions have only gradually been lifted starting in mid-June.
Since the shutdown orders commenced in March, the state labor department said it paid out nearly $15 billion in jobless aid to New Jerseyans, with an average of $11,439 per person.
The state labor department said that 1.36 million New Jerseyans have proven eligible for unemployment aid, and 96 percent have received at least one payment.
That still leaves more than 54,000 claimants that haven’t gotten a single payment—some of whom say they’ve been waiting weeks or months for their first check.
“The pandemic has forced us all to endure tremendous challenges that extend even beyond employment hardships, and we’re doing everything in our power to bring relief to our workers,” New Jersey Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a Thursday statement.
At the end of July, the federal COVID-19 weekly supplement of $600 lapsed, as talks stall in the U.S. Senate between Democrats and White House-based Republicans. In its place is a $300 per week unemployment supplement, which comes out of a $44 billion pot of money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
With the program already running out of money, FEMA officials said New Jerseyans will likely see six weeks of benefits, coming out to $1,800 per person.
“States should plan to make payments to eligible claimants for no more than six weeks from the week ending Aug. 1, 2020,” a FEMA official said. No new or initial applications will be accepted after 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, however, states and territories may continue to submit requests for additional weeks, up to week 6, after Sept. 10.
Asaro-Angelo warned New Jerseyans might not see any money from that program until the start of October, and that not everyone will qualify for the benefits due to more stringent standards excluding anyone getting less than $100 a week, or whose job loss does not stem directly from COVID-19.
Thomas Wright, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said that because of those changes in eligibility, it is not yet clear how many resident would get the added $300.
Despite New Jersey’s participation in the program, Murphy decried it as a “hollow political gesture.”
As of Sept. 5, the state paid out $4.6 billion of jobless benefits from its own pockets, $8.5 billion from the federal CARES Act expansion, $1.3 billion from an expansion for freelancers and independent contractors, $416.2 million from a federal extension of jobless benefits and $52.6 million for a state-level extension.
