ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Unemployment insurance claims continue to be filed in Maryland amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but last week was second straight where the number of claims had dropped.
On Thursday the Maryland Department of Labor said 47,545 citizens filed down from 61,770 citizens the prior week, and 108,508 the week before that.
Since March 1-- 350,329 people in the state have filed.
In the years 2018 and 2019 combined, only 446,883 people in Maryland filed for unemployment.
Recently the Department of Labor began hiring additional workers to help process the backlog and massive amount of incoming claims.
The unemployment insurance call center has also extended their operating hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor says 4.4 million people filed for unemployment nationwide last week.
Since the outbreak began, more than 26 million people have filed in the United States.
