Mecklenburg unemployment claims top 42,000 in a single month during coronavirus
More than 42,500 people filed for unemployment in Mecklenburg County in March, new data from the state shows, the latest sign of the havoc the coronavirus is wreaking on the local economy.
The national unemployment rate for April reached 14.7%, its highest level since the Great Depression, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Friday.
The county figures, released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, are only a fraction of the overall job losses that have occurred as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. North Carolina received just under 340,000 unemployment claims statewide in March, a figure that is now over 1 million, as of data from May 7.
Of Mecklenburg’s 42,542 new claims in March, 34,589 were COVID-19 related, according to the state. That’s 81% of all claims.
By comparison, just a few thousand people filed for unemployment in each of the first two weeks of March statewide, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Those filings vastly accelerated as the COVID-19 crisis gripped the state and nation, forcing businesses to close and people to stay at home.
On Friday, North Carolina moved into Phase 1 of Gov. Roy Cooper’s reopening plan, which means that retailers can reopen. But restaurants, bars, hair salons and other businesses will remain closed until later in the month at the earliest.
Surrounding counties also saw thousands of claims. In Gaston County, over 8,000 people filed for unemployment, and around 7,500 filed in Cabarrus County.
Hardest-hit sectors
The largest job losses in Mecklenburg were in the leisure and hospitality sector, which made up a third of the overall unemployment claims.
Still, other industries have shed thousands of jobs too. The trade, transportation and utilities industry comprised 15% of the claims, and 12% came from the education and health services sector.
“Obviously (leisure and hospitality) have been hit the hardest, but you’ve started to see a ripple through other parts of the economy,” said Chuck McShane, senior vice president of economic research at the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.
Race, gender disparities
Mecklenburg County’s workforce is 49% female and 26% black, according to an analysis by the business alliance. But 60% of of those who filed for unemployment in March were women, and 35% were black.
“Some of these frontline jobs, both in healthcare and in hospitality... a lot of women work in those professions,” McShane said. “So that will have impacts on economic security for families.”
Nationwide, advocacy groups have been pushing the government to address disparities both in the health and economic impacts of COVID-19.
“Now working parents are experiencing a double whammy of job losses paired with the loss of child care, further closing options to work,” Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement Friday.
“As a result, many women are finding themselves without a paycheck or a clear path forward.”
In addition to the economic impacts, county data has shown the virus is disproportionately infecting black residents.
“It’s like a one two punch,” said the Rev. Willie Keaton Jr., a community advocate. “So, the little bit of progress that African Americans were trying to build in Charlotte — this pandemic has really interrupted that.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 4:20 PM.
