First-time unemployment claims fall in Grant County

EPHRATA — While first-time unemployment claims in Grant County for the week ending May 2 fell by 11.6 percent from the previous week, the local unemployment rate is still more than twice what it was for the same period in 2019, according to data published late Thursday by the state Employment Security Department.

In the week ending May 2, 869 Grant County residents filed first-time unemployment claims, down from 983 the week before but more than 10 times the number of first-time claims from the same week in 2019, the ESD said in a weekly report.

Statewide, first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell to 100,762, down from 137,605 and a post-COVID-19 closure high of nearly 182,000 for the last full week of March.

The ESD reported 4,033 continuing claims for unemployment insurance in the county for the week ending May 2, an effective unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, compared with a statewide rate of 6.3 percent.

In Grant County, roughly half of those making first-time claims for unemployment benefits did not disclose what type of industry they were laid off from. Of those who did disclose, the largest group — 95 people — were formerly employed in “ambulatory health care services” while 48 said they worked in “educational services” and 46 in “food services and drinking places,” according to ESD data.

In Adams County, first-time unemployment claims fell to 259 for the week ending May 2, down from 292 the prior week. It was still the second worst week for Adams County workers since the COVID-19 closures were imposed in late March.

While 172 laid-off Adams County workers did not disclose which sectors of the economy they worked in, the largest group of those who reported, 50, said they were laid off from “merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods,” according to ESD figures.