Unemployment claims decline for second consecutive week

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As Oklahoma prepares to reopen for business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of initial unemployment insurance claims dropped for the second week in a row.

Unadjusted initial claims in Oklahoma totaled 40,297 for the week ending April 18, a decrease of 14,185 from the prior week of 54,481, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

The number is still historically high, as the one-week record prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was fewer than 10,000 initial claims.

The less volatile four-week, moving average for initial claims climbed 4,593 to 50,764 for the week ending April 18.

Meanwhile, nationally seasonally adjusted initial claims totaled nearly 4.4 million -- down 810,000 from the previous week's revised number. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the country was 11% for the week ending April 11, up 2.8%.

As OESC looks toward helping revive Oklahoma's economy, it also will begin issuing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance next week to individuals who don't qualify for regular unemployment insurance benefits, OESC Executive Director Robin Roberson said.

"Independent contractors, gig workers and other self-employed individuals eligible for PUA will have applications processed within a few days," Roberson said. "We're making the final changes to our platform to begin issuing PUA relief for COVID-19 related job loss and business closure. We've made it easier for these applicants by permitting them to apply for this relief directly."

Previously, an individual had to be denied eligibility for regular unemployment benefits before applying for the pandemic unemployment benefit. To pre-apply for PUA, applicants should go to https://ui.ok.gov, so they'll be in the pipeline when the agency begins processing these additional claims next week, Roberson said.

If PUA-eligible claimants go back to work as the state reopens, they'll still receive unemployment benefits backdated to when their COVID-19-related job loss or business closure occurred, officials said.

If a claimant returns to work fulltime, they should keep their unemployment claim open with OESC and not certify a weekly claim. If they return part-time, a claimant may continue to certify their weekly claim and must report all gross earnings for the week to potentially receive a partial benefit. Eligibility for continued benefits is determined on the circumstances of each individual claimant.

At least one workplace authority believes the country is reaching the end of its first wave of layoffs.

Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. global outplacement and executive coaching firm said, "All the Americans immediately impacted by the shutdowns have been navigating the unemployment insurance system over the last five weeks. Now, we'll see a lull before the next big wave of corporate layoffs hits."

Employers not immediately impacted by the shutdowns are calculating how they will proceed during a time of low spending and high unemployment, per the firm. In a recent Challenger survey conducted at the end of March, 49% of companies reported they were likely to conduct layoffs in the next few months, while 11% already had.

Meanwhile, according to Challenger tracking, employers announced more than 400,000 job cuts specifically due to the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-March.

March job cuts hit 222,288, 292% higher than the 56,660 cuts announced in February. Comparatively, monthly job cuts averaged 44,392 from 2010 to 2019. During the Great Recession, monthly job cuts averaged 104,668. Through the first quarter of this year, monthly job cuts average 115,561.

"The longer we stay quarantined, the higher the next spike in job loss will be," Challenger said. "It's a morbid race between flattening the COVID curve and capping the unemployment curve."

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