'Need To Do More': More Than 1 Million Unemployment Claims In NC

NORTH CAROLINA — As more than a million unemployment claims have been filed in North Carolina, the state office tasked with processing benefits is facing a backlog of 361,000 people in need of benefits, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces. That is the equivalent of one in five Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5 percent, the Associated Press reported last week.

North Carolina was ranked No. 6 in the nation when it comes to states with the biggest increases in unemployment due to the new coronavirus pandemic, according to WalletHub. In April, the state's unemployment claims represented a 2,314 percent increase over the number filed in January, the survey found.

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"We know that families need help right now," Cooper said at a press briefing Tuesday. "Every single claim that is filed is important because it represents a family in trouble."

Cooper said he was pushing North Carolina Division of Employment Security (DES) — the agency tasked with processing unemployment claims — "to go faster."

The office that typically handles about 1,200 unemployment claims has received more than a million during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

"There are more than a million claims, but some people have to file twice because under the law, they have to be denied one kind of unemployment insurance before they can be granted another kind of unemployment insurance," Cooper said. "That's why you see why you see more than a million claims."

The actual number of unemployed seeking help is about 861,000, Cooper said. "About half a million of those are receiving claims."

That leaves a backlog of about 361,000 people who haven't received benefits yet, he said, adding, "and we have people continually filing."

"They know they need to do more, and to work harder," Cooper said of DES, adding that the agency has expanded hours into evenings and weekends.

"They're being pushed," he said. "It's something we have to do as quickly as possible."

As of Tuesday, there were 577 coronavirus-related deaths and 15,346 confirmed in North Carolina, NC Department of Health and Human Services said.

More information about filing unemployment claims in North Carolina may be found here.

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