Initial unemployment claims in Maine dip to month-low

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - The Maine Department of Labor says the number of Mainers making initial claims for state and federal unemployment insurance dipped below 2,000 last week. That’s the lowest it’s been in more than a month.

The Department reports about 1,500 initial claims were filed in for state aid, while 914 were made for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for the week ending October 10th.

Weekly certifications for state unemployment totaled about 19,100. Roughly 16,000 weekly certifications were filed under PUA.

Maine Department of Labor unemployment figures for the week ending October 10(WABI)

About 14,200 weekly certifications were filed for the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and 820 weekly certifications were filed for the state Extended Benefits program.

Between March 15 and October 10, the DOL says it has paid out over $1.6 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits.

The Department canceled another 249 initial claims and nine weekly claims it determined were fraudulent.

The ReEmployME website will be undergoing scheduled maintenance from 9:00 p.m. on Friday, October 16th through 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 17th and will be unavailable.