ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland is slowly but surely progressing in the fight against COVID-19. Many businesses have reopened as the state is now in stage three of its road map to recovery.
Unemployment claims though continue to be up and down. When the coronavirus outbreak first began, new claims sky rocketed for the first several weeks, before experiencing its first decline in numbers.
At times there has been as many as four straight weeks of downward trends, but then a week pops up where numbers rise again.
RELATED: Questions about Maryland unemployment? We have answers.
The extraordinary amount of claims forced the Maryland Department of Labor to expand their hours and increase staff. A one-stop online dashboard was implemented to streamline new claims, however that too ran into several road blocks causing massive delays and backlogs. Many weren't even able to get through and file. Those problems have since been taken care of for the most part, as the Labor Department reports over 96 percent of claims have been processed.
Since March 21, 2020 -- more than 1.5 million initial unemployment claims were filed.
Keep in mind only 446,883 were filed in the years 2018 and 2019 combined. Despite the pandemic, Maryland's unemployment rate is still lower than the national average.
It should be noted in some instances a claim may be counted twice. Initially, all new claims are filed as regular, but some are first denied and later approved for PUA (i.e. an independent contractor, or Uber driver).
Here's a look at the week by week breakdown by the Maryland Department of Labor.
Click here if you want to see how your specific zip code, county or industry has been impacted
2021 Claims
Week Ending November 13
Total regular UI claims: 1,930
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 38
Total: 1,968
Week Ending November 6
Total regular UI claims: 2,621
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 69
Total: 2,690
Week Ending October 30
Total regular UI claims: 2,792
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 66
Total: 2,858
Week Ending October 23
Total regular UI claims: 2,608
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 63
Total: 2,671
Week Ending October 16
Total regular UI claims: 2,935
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 42
Total: 2,977
Week Ending October 9
Total regular UI claims: 4,287
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 54
Total: 4,341
Week Ending October 2
Total regular UI claims: 2,463
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 54
Total: 2,517
Week Ending September 25
Total regular UI claims: 3,545
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 52
Total: 3,597
Week Ending September 18
Total regular UI claims: 9,016
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 67
Total: 9,083
Week Ending September 11
Total regular UI claims: 6,892
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 17
Total: 6,909
Week Ending September 4
Total regular UI claims: 5,636
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,628
Total: 8,264
Week Ending August 28
Total regular UI claims: 5,127
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,445
Total: 7,572
Week Ending August 21
Total regular UI claims: 9,127
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,737
Total: 13,864
Week Ending August 14
Total regular UI claims: 7,086
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 3,745
Total: 10,831
Week Ending August 7
Total regular UI claims: 5,996
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,451
Total: 8,447
Week Ending July 31
Total regular UI claims: 3,356
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 1,623
Total: 4,979
Week Ending July 24
Total regular UI claims: 4,169
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,018
Total: 8,187
Week Ending July 17
Total regular UI claims: 5,498
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,568
Total: 10,066
Week Ending July 10
Total regular UI claims: 6,436
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,905
Total: 9,341
Week Ending July 3
Total regular UI claims: 8,379
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,970
Total: 14,349
Week Ending June 26
Total regular UI claims: 11,636
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 3,573
Total: 15,209
Week Ending June 19
Total regular UI claims: 10,112
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,121
Total: 14,233
Week Ending June 12
Total regular UI claims: 10,112
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,121
Total: 14,233
Week Ending June 5
Total regular UI claims: 8,613
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,569
Total: 15,182
**Disclaimer for New Claim Numbers Week Ending June 5, 2021***
The numbers for the week ending June 5 are being evaluated. Per the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Labor, new weekly claim numbers for the week ending May 22 were submitted as a temporary estimate. The numbers for the week ending June 5 will be revised and available at a later date.
Week Ending May 29
Total regular UI claims: 8,613
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,569
Total: 15,182
** Disclaimer for New Claim Numbers Week Ending May 29**
The numbers for the week ending May 29 are being evaluated. Per the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Labor, new weekly claim numbers for the week ending May 22 were submitted as a temporary estimate. The numbers for the week ending May 29 will be revised and available at a later date.
Week Ending May 22
Total regular UI claims: 8,613
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,569
Total: 15,182
Week Ending May 15
Total regular UI claims: 8,969
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,389
Total: 15,358
Week Ending May 8
Total regular UI claims: 8,092
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,520
Total: 13,612
Week Ending May 1
Total regular UI claims: 6,895
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,711
Total: 11,606
Week Ending April 24
Total regular UI claims: 6,773
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,718
Total: 11,491
Week Ending April 17
Total regular UI claims: 6,711
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,803
Total: 9,514
Week Ending April 10
Total regular UI claims: 8,411
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 1,903
Total: 10,314
Week Ending April 3
Total regular UI claims: 6,775
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 2,837
Total: 9,612
Week Ending March 27
Total regular UI claims: 8,929
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 3,351
Total: 12,280
Week Ending March 20
Total regular UI claims: 10,580
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 15,416
Total: 25,996
Week Ending March 13
Total regular UI claims: 7,917
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 16,693
Total: 24,610
Week Ending March 6
Total regular UI claims: 6,737
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,845
Total: 13,582
Week Ending February 27
Total regular UI claims: 7,002
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,122
Total: 12,124
Week Ending February 20
Total regular UI claims: 7,387
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,896
Total: 12,283
Week Ending February 13
Total regular UI claims: 18,114
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 10,813
Total: 28,927
Week Ending February 6
Total regular UI claims: 15,938
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,490
Total: 22,428
Week Ending January 30
Total regular UI claims: 33,399
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 17,019
Total: 50,418
Week Ending January 23
Total regular UI claims: 30,514
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 13,819
Total: 44,333
Week ending January 16
Total regular UI claims: 28,918
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 12,678
Total: 41,596
Week ending January 9
Total regular UI claims: 21,797
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 9,716
Total: 31,513
Week ending January 2
Total regular UI claims: 10,638
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 375
Total: 11,013
2020 Claims
Week ending December 26
Total regular UI claims: 17,708
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,392
Total: 18,100
Week ending December 19
Total regular UI claims: 12,497
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,237
Total: 17,734
Week ending December 12
Total regular UI claims: 10,210
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,544
Total: 15,754
Week ending December 5
Total regular UI claims: 10,216
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,145
Total: 15,361
Week ending November 28
Total regular UI claims: 8,565
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,225
Total: 12,790
Week ending November 21
Total regular UI claims: 12,918
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,998
Total: 18,916
Week ending November 14
Total regular UI claims: 11,397
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 7,043
Total: 18,440
Week ending November 7
Total regular UI claims: 10,390
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,864
Total: 17,254
Week ending October 24
Total regular UI claims: 9,891
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 10,055
Total: 19,946
Week ending October 17
Total regular UI claims: 10,810
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 12,393
Total: 23,203
Week ending October 10, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 11,604
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 16,784
Total: 28,388
Week ending October 3, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 10,296
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 19,764
Total: 30,060
Week ending September 26, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 8,521
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,923
Total: 15,444
Week Ending September 19, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 5,280
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 3,905
Total: 9,185
Week ending September 12, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 7,127
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 6,448
Total: 13,575
Week ending September 5, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 6,434
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,890
Total: 11,324
Week ending September 1, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 6,468
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 4,647
Total: 11,115
Week ending August 22, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 6,866
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,009
Total: 11,875
Week ending August 15, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 8,281
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,910
Total: 14,191
Week ending August 8, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 7,626
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 5,491
Total: 13,117
Week ending August 1, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 9,755
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 8,513
Total: 18,268
NEW: 18,268 people filed for unemployment insurance benefits in #Maryland for the week ending August 1. The lowest amount since March 14.
— Mallory Sofastaii WMAR (@mal_sofastaii) August 6, 2020
Regular benefits: 9,755
PEUC, PUA & EB: 8,513@WMAR2News #MarylandUnemployment pic.twitter.com/UsAH9TGk2c
Week ending July 25, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 11,958
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 11,881
Total: 23,839
Week ending July 18, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 16,389
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 16,989
Total: 33,378
Week ending July 11, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 18,657
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 18,726
Total: 37,383
Week ending July 4, 2020
Total regular UI claims: 32,497
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 34,062
Total: 66,559
Week ending June 27
Total regular UI claims: 21,929
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 34,197
Total: 56,126
Total regular UI claims: 31,944
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 15,857
Total: 47,801
Total regular UI claims: 22,902
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 19,039
Total: 41,941
Total regular UI claims: 42,312
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 11,152
Total: 53,464
Total regular UI claims: 32,030
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 11,065
Total: 43,095
Total regular UI claims: 33,836
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 15,127
Total: 48,963
Total regular UI claims: 34,745
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 16,363
Total: 51,108
Total regular UI claims: 45,709
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 20,096
Total: 65,805
Total regular UI claims: 62,076
Total new PUA & PEUC claims: 47,187
Total: 109,263
Total UI claims: 37,225
Total UI claims: 47,545
Total UI claims: 61,770
Total UI claims: 108,508
Week ending March 28
Total UI claims: 84,230
Week ending March 21
Total UI claims: 42,334
*DISCLAIMERS*
*Per federal guidelines, individuals filing for PUA and PEUC must first file for and be declared ineligible for regular UI benefits, resulting in two claim filings for one Maryland claimant. MSDL only pays one claimant for one complete claim filed.
*On July 15, the Labor Department uncovered over 47,000 fraudulent claims that would have amounted to more than $501 million in benefits. Though most were denied, it's unclear if those claims affected the total numbers provided above.
