AUGUSTA, Maine — Claims for Unemployment Compensation, Week Ending February 20
For the week ending February 20, the Maine Department of Labor recorded about 2,150 initial claims filed for state unemployment insurance, and 250 initial claims filed for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).
In total, about 3,000 people were filing an initial claim or reopening their unemployment claim.
About 16,800 weekly certifications, or continued claims, were filed last week for state unemployment, with another 13,300 weekly certifications filed under PUA.
In addition, about 19,300 weekly certifications were filed for the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Weekly certifications must be filed by claimants every week in order to continue to receive unemployment benefits.
Between March 15, 2020, and February 20, 2021, the Maine Department of Labor has paid out over $1.9 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits.
The department has handled approximately 239,400 initial claims for the state unemployment program and 109,050 initial claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program.
There have been over 3.4 million weekly certifications filed.
Claims data is preliminary and subject to revision. Claims data can be found HERE.
