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NJ unemployment claims reach almost 1.1 million

Nearly 70,000 new unemployment claims were filed in New Jersey last week, bringing the total number of claims filed to almost 1.1 million.

More than 725,000 residents of the state are collecting state and federal PUA benefits. According to data, workers in casinos, retail, food service, restaurants, and airlines have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. 

PUA is a federal program authorized by Congress as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that provides benefits not just to newly eligible populations such as self-employed workers, independent contractors or those who do not have enough recent earnings to qualify for regular unemployment benefits, but also for newly qualifying reasons such as being unable to work because due to caring for others or for their own COVID-19 illness.  

Officials said about 139,000 self-employed workers, independent contractors, and others awaiting benefits are being made eligible for PUA this week; they will receive email instructions on how to claim their weekly benefits starting Sunday. They must follow the certification guide and schedule posted on myunemployment.nj.gov and must review the certifying questions to avoid payment delays. 

The certification tips can be found herehttps://myunemployment.nj.gov/labor/myunemployment/covidinstructions.shtml 

“The USDOL has strict rules in place that we must follow when handling a claim in order to prevent fraud. Unfortunately, this also can lengthen the time it takes for claimants to receive benefits,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “We are doing everything we can, working within federal guidelines, to get benefits to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. We can only do so much without jeopardizing billions of dollars of funding for the new federal benefits programs, like PUA, and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, the $600 weekly supplement.”  

For the week ending May 9, initial unemployment claims were 69,689. The weekly totals of new unemployment claims for the eight weeks since the virus hit are:  

March 15-21 155,815 
March 22-28 206,253 
March 29-April 4 214,836 
April 5-11 141,420 
April 12-18 140,139 
April 19-25 71,996 
April 26-May 2 88,326 
May 3-9 69,689* 
Total 1,088,474 

Eligible claimants have received $2.7 billion in benefits to date, including $1.1 billion  in state unemployment payments since mid-March, and $1.5 billion in FPUC payments and $79 millions in PUA payments. 

The breakdown of weekly payments (in millions): 

Week NJ UI Payment FPUC Payment PUA Payment 
March 15-21  $47.4  X X 
March 22-28  $57.9  X X 
March 29-April 3  $89.8  X X 
April 4-11 $140.7  $154.8 X 
April 12-18 $179.7  $238.8 X 
April 19-25 $211.1  $296.3 X 
April 26-May 2 $171.7  $291.1 $27.1 
May 3-9 $244.7  $502.4 $51.6 
Total $1,143 $1,483.4 $78.7 

The CARES Act also authorized a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits to workers who have exhausted their 26 weeks of New Jersey unemployment. Those benefits will start to be processed next week for those who exhausted their benefits since last July. For more information on eligibility, visit: https://myunemployment.nj.gov/labor/myunemployment/apply/extensions/ 

The Labor Department has posted guides for self-employed, independent contractors and others who might be eligible for PUA that explain the benefits and walk them through the application process. Those guides can be found here: .  

Information on certifying for unemployment can be found here: https://myunemployment.nj.gov/labor/myunemployment/schedule.shtml 

People collecting unemployment are also receiving a $600 supplemental weekly benefit through the end of July. Those payments arrive separately, after the regular unemployment payment. A separate application is not required. 

Roughly 91 percent of new unemployment applications are being filed online at myunemployment.nj.gov. Claims continue to be backdated to ensure that no one loses a week of benefits, even if they have difficulty getting through. Anyone who refuses work or voluntarily quits a job is ineligible for unemployment.

Avatar of Krystal Knapp

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.

2 Comments

  1. How about those who filed on the 3rd week of march but has’nt gotten any cents until now?they should prioritize us also.

  2. I filed for unemployment on 03/22/2020 , received 3 blue letters from DOL
    Received email tell me to go certify and will receive the money ; I still get nothing
    Even i checked the status of my claim and it said “ pending” really need help ,chat box did not help much

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