Maryland unemployment claims hit a new pandemic low last week, but that’s likely because the state took its system offline for more than three days as it transitioned to a new online portal.
Data released by the Maryland Department of Labor Thursday shows a total of 9,185 unemployment claims were filed for the week ending Sept. 19. That’s a drop of 4,390 from the week prior, but that might not be a sign of optimism for the state economy since Maryland’s online unemployment portal was down from Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. through Sept. 19. Maryland’s Beacon 2.0 online portal went live on Sunday, but many claimants still ran into issues with the new system. On Tuesday, the Department of Labor said it had fixed those issues.
A closer look at the breakdown of the claims shows that filings dropped for all unemployment programs last week despite having been on the rise earlier in the month. Regular filings fell by more than 1,800 to 5,280 after climbing by nearly 700 the week prior. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program filings — which cover independent contractors, gig workers, sole proprietors and other self-employed people — also jumped by nearly 700 for the week ending Sept. 12, but fell by 94 last week, according to state data.
