ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Unemployment insurance claims continue to be filed in Maryland amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but last week saw a significant decrease in applications than the week prior.
On Thursday the Maryland Department of Labor said 61,770 citizens filed, opposed to 108,508 the week before, a more than 55 percent decrease.
It's the first drop in claims since the outbreak began.
Since March 1, 302,784 people in the state have filed.
In the years 2018 and 2019 combined, only 446,883 people in Maryland filed for unemployment.
Earlier this week the Department of Labor said they would hire 100 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 5.2M people filed initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the four-week total to 22 million nationwide.
