KANSAS CITY, Mo. — New unemployment claims continue to skyrocket in Kansas and Missouri.
Kansas spent more than $22.9 million last week alone on unemployment claims after ponying up more than $14.8 million the week before, according to data from the state’s Department of Labor.
During the same two-week period last year, Kansas spent less than $5 million for unemployment claims, an increase of 7,479% — or more than seven times the amount spent during the same timeframe in 2019.
There are now 9,642 people in Johnson County, 2,829 people in Wyandotte County and 1,206 people in Leavenworth County receiving unemployment.
That includes more than 6,000 new unemployment claims in those three counties during the past week.
More than 9,000 new claims were filed in Sedgwick County, which includes Wichita.
Manufacturing remained the hardest-hit sector, shedding 8,551 jobs last week
According to the Kansas Department of Labor, 58,818 residents received unemployment last week, but that underscores the issue residents are having reporting and getting reimbursed for claims.
During the past four weeks, there have been 160,484 new unemployment claims filed in Kansas, an indication the state continues to lag behind in getting help to recently laid-off workers.
In the first six months of 2019, Kansas had 187,925 unemployment recipients — a number the state has nearly reached in the past month alone.
Kansas has already spent $8 million more in the first 15 weeks of 2020 on unemployment claims ($83.6 million) than it did in the first six months of 2019 ($75.5 million).
In Missouri, there have been more initial unemployment claims filed during the past two weeks than were filed in all of 2019.
New unemployment claims in Missouri dipped from 104,230 for the week ending March 28 to 91,049 for the week ending April 4, but those 195,279 new claims are more than all of last year, when the state saw 182,912 new unemployment claims.
The updated Missouri employment data doesn’t include new unemployment claims for the week ending April 11, but the state has shed 237,486 since March 15, according to Missouri Department of Labor reports.
