Maryland's 33,378 New Unemployment Claims Lowest Since March

SILVER SPRING, MD — Maryland recorded its lowest number of new unemployment claims since mid-March, adding 33,378 new claims for the week ending July 18. Meanwhile, Gov. Larry Hogan rebuffed calls from health officials to roll back reopening measures.

"We do not want to crush our economy and punish 95 percent of the Marylanders and businesses who are doing the right thing because of the failure to control a small segment of willful violators," Hogan said during a news conference Wednesday, in which he addressed concerns about rising hospitalizations for coronavirus cases.

Hogan added, "We continue to be concerned about possible resurgence of the virus."

Data released Thursday by the Maryland Department of Labor showed claims at their lowest level since the week ending March 14, in which the state recorded 3,852 claims. (At the time, the state had recorded about a dozen confirmed cases of coronavirus. To date, more than 80,000 people have tested positive.)

More than 1 million Marylanders have filed unemployment claims since the start of the pandemic, with the highest recorded weekly claims total reaching 109,263 for the week ending May 2. (Hogan's stay-at-home order, which closed non essential businesses, was lifted May 15.)

Earlier this month, The Maryland Department of Labor announced that it has paid $3.6 billion in benefits and processed 96.2 percent of unemployment insurance claims. Last week, on July 15, the department announced that it had thwarted "a massive and sophisticated criminal enterprise" behind an attempt to steal $501 million in unemployment benefits.

However, hundreds of out-of-state claims frozen by the fraud investigation appear to be legitimate. In a statement to WMAR, a Department of Labor spokeswoman said, "Our staff is working to quickly review the uploaded documentation and reinstate all verified accounts for legitimate claimants."

Read also:

• MD Coronavirus Trends 'Stable,' Hogan Says, As City Limits Dining
• MD Thwarts $501M Theft Via 48K Stolen Identities, Job Claims
• MD Unemployment Claims: 37,383 Filed Last Week; New Total Tops 1M