AUGUSTA — For the week ending June 12, the Maine Department of Labor recorded about 1,350 initial claims filed for state unemployment insurance, and 300 initial claims filed for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

These numbers represent claim applications; claims are then reviewed for eligibility and legitimacy. In total, approximately 1,300 people were filing an initial claim or reopening their unemployment claim.

Overall unemployment continued claims filed each week continue to steadily decline, down roughly 1,050 claims from the previous week. About 10,200 weekly certifications, or continued claims, were filed last week for state unemployment, with another 11,500 weekly certifications filed under PUA.

In addition, about 15,500 weekly certifications were filed for the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Weekly certifications must be filed by claimants every week in order to continue to receive unemployment benefits.

For the same time period, roughly 3,600 unemployment claimants reported having partial earnings for the week. In many cases, people receiving unemployment benefits can work part-time and still retain the $300 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) offered by Congress through September 4. More information, including a walk-through video and “partial benefit calculator,” can be found here: maine.gov/unemployment/pub. 

Between March 15, 2020 and June 12, 2021, the Maine Department of Labor has paid out over $2.27 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits. Approximately $1.7 billion of the $2.27 billion was paid through federal unemployment programs.

The Department has handled approximately 263,100 initial claims for the state unemployment program and 112,200 initial claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Note: Claims do not equal the number of unique unemployment claimants. There have been over 4.1 million weekly certifications filed.

During the week ending June 12, the Department cancelled 981 initial claims and three weekly claims suspected to be fraudulent.

Upcoming hiring event: On July 1, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Maine CareerCenters are hosting a virtual hiring event featuring jobs in the Medical/Medical Staffing/Home Care fields. More information: https://www.mainecareercenter.com/locations/jobfair.shtml?id=4296178