COVID-19 has left a historic number of Missourians unemployed and seeking to collect compensation. As more people need help, the news has been filled with stories of overwhelmed phone lines, unanswered claims and stressed Missourians.
As many businesses prepare to reopen Monday, state officials discussed the huge demand for unemployment benefits and the impact that going back to work could have on Missourians.
“Normally at this time of year, we process about 2,300 to 3,000 initial unemployment claims a week,” Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Annie Hui said Wednesday. “In the last five weeks, we have had two historic weeks where we have processed well over 100,000 initial unemployment claims.”
As April comes to a close, state officials have reported over 214,000 unemployment claims related to COVID-19 — a total so far in this month alone that exceeds the 183,823 claims made in 2019.
To read more, visit our partners at the Columbia Missourian.