AUGUSTA — For the week ending August 7, the Maine Department of Labor recorded about 800 initial claims filed for state unemployment insurance, and 100 initial claims filed for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

These numbers represent claim applications; claims are then reviewed for eligibility and legitimacy. In total, approximately 1,000 people were filing an initial claim or reopening their unemployment claim.

Overall unemployment continued claims continue to decrease, decreasing about 640 from the previous week. About 7,900 weekly certifications, or continued claims, were filed last week for state unemployment, with another 9,500 weekly certifications filed under PUA. In addition, about 14,400 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.

For the same time period, roughly 3,100 unemployment claimants reported having partial earnings for the week. 

Reminder: Federal unemployment benefits end on September 4, 2021. The Department recommends that claimants take advantage of CareerCenter services. CareerCenters host a variety of job fairs as well as one-on-one meetings with a consultant, to develop employment or training plans. 

Between March 15, 2020 and August 7, 2021, the Maine Department of Labor has paid out over $2.4 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits. Approximately $1.8 billion of the $2.4 billion was paid through federal unemployment programs.

The Department has handled approximately 272,200 initial claims for the state unemployment program and 113,700 initial claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Note: Claims do not equal the number of unique unemployment claimants. There have been over 4.4 million weekly certifications filed.

During the week ending August 7, the Department cancelled 198 initial claims suspected to be fraudulent.