Coronavirus Resources: Baltimore County Issues Immediate Hiring Freeze For All Non-Essential Workers
TOWSON, MD. (WJZ) -- Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski announced a total hiring freeze for all non-essential workers in the county, in an effort to prepare for a huge local revenue loss due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is not an easy decision, but it is the fiscally responsible one," He said at a press conference Thursday morning.
He said recent projects find local revenues will decline by tens of millions of dollars compared to where the county thought they would be a month ago, and must start acting now.
"The longer the pandemic continues, the longer those expenses increase," He added.
The Office of Budget and Finance is implementing the immediate freeze, except for first responders including police officers, firefighters, EMTS, paramedics, 911 workers and public health workers.
"The only way we will get through this is together, and that is exactly what we will do," Olszewski said.
More Marylanders filed for unemployment in the last month than in all of 2019, according to state numbers released Thursday morning.
CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:
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This last week alone, over 108,000 Marylanders filed for unemployment insurance.
There's also a new way to file for unemployment in Maryland, after the system was inundated with calls and emails over the last few weeks.
Anyone who is having problems filing for unemployment insurance or has a question can check out the state's unemployment insurance information page here.
If you're still not sure exactly how to file for unemployment, you can check out WJZ's step-by-step instructions here.
