Initial claims for unemployment filed by Montgomery County residents continued to drop. During the week that ended Nov. 7, 1,641 Montgomery County residents filed initial claims. The prior week, which ended Oct. 31, 1,943 Montgomery County residents had filed initial claims, according to the Maryland Department of Labor.
Statewide, the number of initial claims filed last week dropped by more than 1,000. During the week that ended Nov. 7, 17,254 Marylanders filed initial claims for unemployment. The previous week that ended Oct. 31, 18,383 Marylanders had filed. During the week that ended Oct. 24, 19,946 Marylanders had filed initial unemployment claims.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, real average hourly earnings for all employees increased .1% from September to October.
The Maryland Department of Labor reported that it had processed nearly 95% of the claims that have been filed, resulting in a payment of more than $7.8 billion in benefits. Of the 94.8% of claims that were processed, 80% were valid and 14.7% were denied, because they did not meet state or federal program guidelines.
According to the state DOL, of the 5.2% of claims that are pending, almost all of them are disputed and cannot be processed until an investigation is complete.
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