COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Employment and Work Force (DEW) said over 87,000 people filed for unemployment last week in the state due to the coronavirus.
During that week of April 11, 87,686 people who live and work in South Carolina filed initial claims with DEW. That number is a 3.14% increase from the previous week’s count of 85,018 and a 4,293.09% increase from the week ending March 14, 2020 when only 1,996 initial claims were filed.
Overall, the agency has processed 268,614 claims in the four weeks since the pandemic began as opposed to the four weeks prior to the pandemic when the agency processed a total of 7,783 initial claims.
These numbers do not include people who were already getting unemployment before the virus began affecting the economy.
Other data from DEW about coronavirus, or COVID-19, related claims:
- $114 million has been paid in $600 CARES Act benefits and regular South Carolina Unemployment Insurance benefits Sunday-Tuesday of this week alone. This is before the additional funds for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance have even reached the state.
- Working with our South Carolina business partners, as well as internally cross-training our workforce, we have been able to surge our call center staff from 46 customer service representative to 292 and more staff are being trained and added to the phones each day (to bring us up to more than 500 next week) to help respond to claimant questions.
- While call center hours for incoming calls – 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday – have not changed, staff continue to work extended hours each week day and through weekends making outbound calls. These call backs respond to individuals captured in the queue and those whose claims require follow up from a claims specialist.
- A chat bot feature has been added to the website to help answer unemployment and COVID-related questions.
- If you are self-employed, a contractor, gig workers, file a 1099 – you are encouraged to go ahead and apply for unemployment insurance benefits. Because these types of employment are not eligible for state unemployment insurance benefits under regular program requirements, you will receive notification that you have been denied. However, this is the first step in the process to receive federal funds coming under the CARES Act’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. In accordance with USDOL guidance, we will begin processing these applications in the coming weeks and notify you of your next steps for eligibility. If you are determined eligible, your funds will be paid retroactively.
- Please visit the COVID-19 Resource Hub or dew.sc.gov website for recently added Frequently Asked Questions about the filing and claims unemployment insurance process. Check the sites in order to avoid the wait.