Over 3.8 Million Americans Filed for Jobless Benefits Last Week as States Struggle With Coronavirus Claims Surge

Connecticut was more than halfway through a multiyear modernization of its unemployment insurance system in mid-March when the coronavirus pandemic triggered a surge in claims and the state website that accepts applications froze.

Labor department personnel worked all night trying to figure out what had gone wrong and realized the website could only handle up to 8,300 applications in a single day, a fraction of what residents were now trying to submit. After fixing that problem, they tried to figure out what might break next, said Danté Bartolomeo, deputy commissioner of Connecticut’s labor department.

“You can’t look ahead to see what will fail and what won’t fail,” she said.

The pandemic has triggered an unprecedented tidal wave of initial claims for unemployment insurance, at least 30.3 million nationwide since mid-March. That includes another 3.8 million filed last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a modest decrease from the prior week but still well above any level reached before March.

Thursday’s report showed 12.4% of the U.S. workforce covered by unemployment benefits were receiving payments in the April 18 week, pushing further in the record territory, on data back to the early 1970s.

The onslaught of claims would have been a challenge under any circumstance for states to manage.

In this case, the challenge is proving even greater because many states’ unemployment benefit systems are hamstrung by archaic, decades-old technology. Coping with relief legislation that provides an additional $600 a week in benefits and making independent contractors such as Uber drivers eligible has created additional strains.