Labor Dept.: N.J. unemployment benefit payouts hit $3.4B, number of new cases declines

The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development announced on Thursday it has distributed $3.4 billion worth of unemployment benefits in New Jersey since the COVID-19 pandemic began mid-March.

In the nine weeks since the coronavirus began, more than 1.1. million new claims have been filed in the state.

For the week ending May 16, 42,365 new applications were received by the department — the lowest weekly total of new claims since mid-March — and 139,000 more federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims were paid out. Also, unemployed and underemployed workers claimed 902,000 weeks worth of benefits (which includes backdated weeks) for a weekly payout of $710 million in federal and state funds.

“We’re very pleased to see the balance begin to shift this week with the number of new claims trending downward and the number being processed curving upward,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said. “Our only focus remains getting benefits into the bank accounts of every worker as quickly as possible.”

The department said it has increased its communications, letting claimants know by email and text the status of their applications and when they can expect to start claiming them.

Nationally for the week, 2.438 million people filed for unemployment benefits, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week’s total, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Here’s New Jersey’s weekly totals of new unemployment claims since the virus hit:

The state said it the $3.4 billion in benefit payments includes $1.4 billion in state unemployment payouts since mid-March, $1.9 billion in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments and $134 million in PUA payments.

The weekly breakdown is as follows (in millions):