March 11, 2020, saw the first confirmed case of COVID19 in Mississippi diagnosed in a Forrest County individual.
Since that day Governor Reeves has issued various executive orders including a Shelter-in-Place Order that took effect April 3, 2020 at 5 p.m. set to expire Monday, April 20.
However, Reeves has now extended the order through April 27, with added caveats relaxing some of the specific orders, especially pertaining to outdoor recreation.
Throughout the shelter in place businesses considered non-essential were shuttered, adding an even larger number of unemployment claims to an already overwhelmed system.
During the first three months of 2020 the quarterly average unemployment rate for Simpson County is 5.3%, or 560 claims. During the same time frame for 2019 the number is almost equivalent, 5.1%, or 550 claims. April data is not yet available for Simpson County or the state of Mississippi.
However, according to United States Department of Labor website https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/wkclaims/report.asp Mississippi began seeing significant increases in initial unemployment claims during the month of March, with dramatic swells in the last two weeks. For the weeks ending March 21 and 28 first time claims were 32,015 and 45,852, respectively. Total continued and first time claims ending March 28 are 75,225. For perspective, initial claims for the week ending January 4, 2020, were 1,515 with total continued and first time claims being 11,051.
According to a Tate Reeves Facebook post from April 7, at 3:47 p.m. he stated, “One in ten American workers lost their jobs these last few weeks. Mississippi is facing this same crisis – and it is a true crisis for working people. Last week, 46,000 Mississippians lost their jobs. It was 37,000 in the two weeks before that. Usually it’s less than 1,000. … That’s more than an 8,000% increase in (new) unemployment claims…”
He also noted that Mississippi has seen a 14,000% increase in lost jobs as of April 16, 2020.
During Governor Reeves’ daily press conference on April 21, at 2:30 p.m. he stated that the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) has added 200 employees to assist with phone calls and website claims in an effort to expedite the claims process.
Jackie Turner, Director of MDES, also stated that unemployment claims totaling $72,000,000 were paid out the previous week compared to a normal week of $1,000,000. These claims include the regular weekly unemployment insurance benefit along with an additional $600 per week supplemental benefit ordered on March 29, 2020 by the governor.
Additionally, Reeves reported the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PAU) Program is now available through the MDES for those who were not eligible to file for unemployment insurance previously.
Go to MDES.gov for specific information on qualifying applicants and to file a claim. Or call toll free 1-833-919-0334, 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
