NC coronavirus job losses are among worst in the nation, report says
Depending on how you run the numbers, unemployment in North Carolina has gone up as much as 6,000% because of coronavirus.
And as reports pour in about technical problems and long waits for help at the state’s unemployment office, one study found North Carolina residents are unusual in how frequently they’re looking for outside help.
Unemployment-related calls to 2-1-1, a national help line operated by the United Way, have jumped by more in North Carolina than in any other state among the 23 states they had data for, according to a report released Friday.
Looking at the period from March 12 to April 2, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis counted a single call to 2-1-1 in 2019 looking for help with North Carolina unemployment benefits. But this year, there were 834 calls.
And people aren’t just looking for help with jobless benefits. The 2-1-1 call data shows inquiries about food pantries are up more than 800%, and people looking for help with rent or utilities have more than doubled.
The fact that North Carolinians have begun to look so intensely for help with unemployment makes sense, since a report Thursday from the research group WalletHub found that job losses here are among the worst in the nation.
Compared to this time last year, according to WalletHub, citing federal Department of Labor figures, North Carolina’s unemployment claims are up by more than 6,000%. And comparing the most recent week to the first week of the year, job losses here are up nearly 4,800%.
“North Carolina has the second biggest increase in unemployment due to coronavirus,” WalletHub said, explaining that when taking both numbers into account for all 50 states, only Louisiana has been hit harder.
How many have filed for unemployment?
On Thursday, the federal government released nationwide data that showed 6.6 million people filed for unemployment in the week from March 21-28. Combined with the 3.2 million who applied for unemployment the week before, around 10 million Americans reported losing their jobs in the last two weeks of March.
More than 350,000 North Carolinians have filed for unemployment since mid-March, state officials said in a daily update Thursday.
That’s when businesses starting closing down due to local and statewide orders to try to stem the tide of COVID-19. And those 350,000 people don’t include those who have lost their jobs but haven’t filed for unemployment. There have been numerous reports of problems with the website and phone lines at the state’s unemployment office, which has been swamped by the record job losses, the News & Observer has reported.
A Wilmington mom who was denied unemployment benefits after losing two jobs, Megan Lewis, recently told The News & Observer that she hopes new federal unemployment benefits help people who don’t qualify at the state level.
“This virus is no one’s fault,” she said. “I understand that. But at the end of the day I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
NC vs other Southern states
Louisiana had more than 9,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Thursday, New Orleans TV station WDSU reported, and 310 deaths.
North Carolina, on the other hand, surpassed 2,000 reported cases on Thursday and has had 17 deaths, the N&O reported.
Louisiana has been hit hard after coronavirus spread during Mardi Gras in late February. The New York Times reported last week that New Orleans had the nation’s highest per-capita rate of coronavirus deaths, and that Louisiana as a whole “is experiencing the fastest growth in new cases in the world.”
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has been more aggressive than the leaders of some other Southern states in ordering businesses to close and people to stay at home, News & Observer reporting shows.
One of the few Southern states to beat North Carolina to the punch was Louisiana. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a statewide stay-at-home order that started March 23, exactly a week before Cooper gave the order in North Carolina.
Cooper’s statewide stay-at-home order was supported by numerous groups representing hospitals, nurses and other medical professionals.
The N.C. Chamber of Commerce originally voiced concerns. But later, after Cooper gave the order, Chamber President Gary Salamido voiced support for the decision made by Cooper and state health officials.
“They have determined, due to the number of North Carolinians still gathering in non-essential businesses, that the time has come for the last resort,” Salamido wrote. “We trust and respect their decision.”
Two of the four states that border North Carolina — Georgia and Tennessee — only announced statewide stay-at-home orders late Thursday, and South Carolina is still holding off on such an order. Virginia began its stay-at-home order on Monday, the same day as North Carolina.
The economic results for the holdout states have been mixed. South Carolina and Georgia have both had less extreme spikes in job losses than most other states, according to the WalletHub rankings. But Tennessee wasn’t far behind North Carolina with the nation’s 11th largest unemployment growth. Virginia ranked 6th.
And while medical professionals have said Cooper’s stay-at-home order will help North Carolina contain the spread of coronavirus, if people follow the rules, there’s no question the order has cost people their jobs.
Cooper himself acknowledged that. He has also issued a new executive order making it easier for people to qualify for unemployment benefits.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the position of the NC Chamber of Commerce, and to include a second study from Washington University in St. Louis.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 9:33 PM with the headline "NC coronavirus job losses are among worst in the nation, report says."
