Coronavirus Latest: More Than 109K Marylanders Filed For Unemployment Last Week
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- More than 109,000 Marylanders filed for unemployment last week.
The state's Department of Labor reports 109,263 total claims were filed for the week ending on May 2. That's nearly three times the previous week when around 37,000 claims were filed.
In a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Larry Hogan said the BEACON One-Stop portal is fully operational after several reported glitches and the site crashing due to the amount of traffic coming to the site.
| MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF LABOR DIVISION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE TOTAL CLAIMS FILED BY COUNTY Week Ending - May 2, 2020 |
||||||
| Claim Filed By: | Paper | Phone | Internet | Agent | PUA Claims | PEUC Claims |
| Allegany | 0 | 64 | 354 | 0 | 296 | 43 |
| Anne Arundel | 1 | 734 | 4,864 | 0 | 4,030 | 211 |
| Baltimore City | 3 | 764 | 4,232 | 0 | 4,088 | 360 |
| Baltimore County | 12 | 1,250 | 8,322 | 0 | 7,251 | 577 |
| Calvert | 0 | 121 | 670 | 0 | 517 | 20 |
| Caroline | 0 | 42 | 247 | 0 | 208 | 10 |
| Carroll | 14 | 203 | 1,179 | 0 | 931 | 57 |
| Cecil | 0 | 85 | 571 | 0 | 454 | 29 |
| Charles | 0 | 202 | 1,277 | 0 | 1,138 | 69 |
| Dorchester | 0 | 40 | 226 | 0 | 195 | 16 |
| Frederick | 1 | 252 | 1,855 | 0 | 1,405 | 85 |
| Garrett | 0 | 27 | 159 | 0 | 120 | 13 |
| Harford | 3 | 344 | 1,979 | 0 | 1,636 | 99 |
| Howard | 2 | 453 | 3,047 | 0 | 2,339 | 101 |
| Kent | 0 | 20 | 121 | 0 | 109 | 6 |
| Montgomery | 3 | 1,019 | 10,052 | 0 | 7,869 | 249 |
| Non - Maryland | 2 | 604 | 3,416 | 0 | 2,201 | 299 |
| Prince George's | 3 | 1,007 | 7,720 | 0 | 6,397 | 361 |
| Queen Anne's | 0 | 73 | 478 | 0 | 344 | 23 |
| Somerset | 1 | 19 | 115 | 0 | 106 | 14 |
| St. Mary's | 0 | 101 | 618 | 0 | 498 | 24 |
| Talbot | 0 | 38 | 327 | 0 | 249 | 9 |
| Unknown | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Washington | 1 | 176 | 958 | 0 | 781 | 52 |
| Wicomico | 0 | 133 | 713 | 0 | 600 | 75 |
| Worcester | 0 | 109 | 636 | 0 | 518 | 105 |
| Totals by Type: | 46 | 7,894 | 54,136 | 0 | 44,280 | 2,907 |
| Total Regular UI Claims: | 62,076 | |||||
| Total PUA & PEUC Claims: | 47,187 | |||||
| Total All UI Claims: | 109,263 | |||||
Gov. Hogan added the Beacon unemployment website is fixed, but many Marylanders filing for benefits say they cannot get in contact with anyone to resolve their issues.
WJZ first profiled Judy Kilgore one week ago. She said her approved benefits abruptly stopped—a problem other Marylanders are also reporting. Thursday, she said despite thousands of calls, she has yet to get in touch with anyone to resolve her issue.
"My nerves are about shot with all this," Kilgore told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "There's been no response. I just can't get through. People can't get anyone to help them with the issues. They need to find out what's going on with their claims. I never thought I'd still be in this position one week later."
The Department of Labor said it did streamline questions for weekly re-certifications and reinstated some claimants.
This comes as Maryland saw a record of more than 109,000 new unemployment claims last week.
Many of these are newly-eligible filers including the self-employed and gig workers.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.