Gov. Murphy: New Jersey Department Of Labor Making Good Progress Addressing Backlog Of Unemployment Claims
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- During his daily coronavirus briefing on Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy provided an update on unemployment numbers in New Jersey and touched on potential outdoor dining guidelines that are expected to be released in the coming days.
The governor said a total of 1.17 million unemployment claims have been filed. Of those, 911,000 have been fulfilled, totaling $4.3 billion in payouts.
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What will likely come as good news for those still waiting for answers, Murphy said the Department of Labor has been closing the gap on the number of claims that still need to be processed.
"Since the department implemented new programming to expedite claims, more than 345,000 of those claims have been cleared. The number of claims in the queue continues to shrink and roughly 208,000 additional claims have been removed from pending status and are now being paid out," Murphy said.
"We are not alone in pushing hard against record levels of new claims. The federal system, as the commissioner has noted, has its own flaws, which sometimes slows things down. But together we're working through them to provide the financial relief and support our residents need," he added.
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Murphy said "fairly specific" safety rules for businesses reopening, including outdoor dining, will be announced on Friday.
The governor also said he will also provide an update on youth sports, rental assistance and rental programs.
As for the latest COVID-19 numbers, the governor said there were 1,261 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the state's total to 157,815 since March 4, the day the state reported its first positive test.
Murphy said there were 365 new hospitalizations, which were the highest in about a week, and added there were 287 discharges.
There were also 66 new deaths state-wide on Wednesday, upping the overall count to 11,401.
