Clinton County Unemployment Claims Easing

HARRISBURG – The latest information from the Department of Labor and Industry shows that initial unemployment claims from Clinton County continue to trend down.

The number of initial claims continues to fall on a weekly basis in Clinton County: the high initial claim was 697 for the week ending March 28. The initial unemployment claim for the week ending May 23 was 100.

Labor and Industry reports 2,100 continued unemployment insurance claims from Clinton County residents, as of May 23; the food service/accommodation field accounts for 17% of the claims, and the ages groups from 25 to 44 account for 42% of the continued claims. This is down from a high of 3,200 continued claims as of May 2.

Clinton County’s monthly unemployment rate for April is to be released June 2. The local March rate was 7.9%. The state’s April unemployment rate was 15.1%.

“The virus continues to impact the employment numbers for Clinton County but they are slowly getting better,” said Mike Flanagan of the Clinton County Economic Partnership. “The drop of over 1,000 continued unemployment insurance claims in three weeks indicates that most or a majority of the people are back to work. But we are thankful to get into the green phase soon, and that will hopefully help more of the small businesses to get back in the batter’s box.”