Greensboro Reporter

North Carolina's unemployment claims skyrocketed after Gov. Roy Cooper ordered in March that most businesses close and loosened the criteria for filing unemployment claims.

Nearly 18,000 unemployment claims were filed in the two days after the governor issued the executive order on March 17. That’s about five times the normal number of claims. Similar to other orders, North Carolina's policy closes bars and allows restaurants to offer only take-out or delivery services, among other restrictions.  

North Carolina is among the many states that are under varying degrees of lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Division of Employment Security processed 166,172 claims from March 16 to 25, North Carolina Department of Commerce Division of Employment Security Government and Public Relations Manager Larry Parker wrote into an email to WBTV on March 25. 

The bulk of those claims are related to COVID-19, Parker said.

As a result of the spike in unemployment claims, the North Carolina Division of Employment Security suggested people file claims online. There are long wait times to file a claim or have a question answered over the phone. 

People who lost their job, had their hours reduced or who cannot work because of a COVID-19-related health issue can file for unemployment.

There is normally a one-week waiting period before filing an unemployment claim but the state waived it for people filing as a direct result of COVID-19. Additionally, some work-search requirements were waived.

The job layoffs caused a drastic, record-setting spike in unemployment claims throughout the country. Unemployment claims for the week ending March 21 were 3.28 million, an increase of 3 million from the previous week, according to data U.S. Department of Labor released on March 26. 

As of March 29, North Carolina health officials reported 1,040 positive cases and four deaths.