As workplaces across the commonwealth shut down, Massachusetts is seeing a tidal wave of new unemployment claims from workers who have been sent home.
On Monday, the state received 19,884 new initial claims for unemployment, according to Charlie Pearce, communications director at the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
“That one day total exceeds the amount of new initial claims for the entire month of February — 17,382,” Pearce said.
Mark Melnik, head of economic research at the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute, said those number are part of the reason his institute is predicting a global crisis.
“Are we at the peak or where is the peak, all of these things are just unknown at this point,” Melnik said. “But the immediate shock that we are experiencing now is definitely deeply concerning.”
Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is scrambling to rewrite the rules for unemployment insurance to respond to the sudden shock to the workforce.
Baker issued emergency rules Tuesday creating a new “standby status” for “individuals who are temporarily unemployed due to lack of work because of COVID 19.” That category will cover workers who have to “stay home for any reason related to COVID 19.”
Under normal rules, anyone on unemployment has to prove they are actively looking for work. Under the new coronavirus rules, “the individual need only take reasonable measures to maintain contact with his or her employer, and to be available for hours offered by the employer.”
The governor has also proposed legislation to waive the one-week waiting period for anyone making a coronavirus-related unemployment claim.
