Over 19,000 more New Hampshire employees and business owners filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending April 18, about 6,000 more than the revised total released earlier and more than 300 times the number of initial weekly claims filed before the coronavirus infected New Hampshire’s and the national economy.
With the new claims and revisions, about 145,000 New Hampshire residents have filed initial claims in the five-week period starting in mid-March. If you add that to the 20,000 who were already collecting jobless benefits before the collapse, there has been more than an eight-fold increase in unemployment in that period.
The unemployment rate in March, which was based on surveys taken before the recession, was 2.6%, so it is likely that current levels will be greater than 10% and, more likely, over 15%.
This deluge of claims has overwhelmed the state Department of Employment Security, which has also had to update its computer system to include the federal enhanced benefit of $600 a week.
After the department upgraded its computer system early last weekend, the first $600 checks – both current and catch-up – went out last week and should have been received Wednesday. But the department told the Union Leader the checks went out to about 50,000 individuals, and there were about 80,000 new claims by the end of March, so the new checks may not have reached everyone.