Unemployment a persistent pandemic problem

KIMT talks to Rayce Hardy

It's another sign the economy is still trying to recover from covid?

"*19 the labor department is saying the number of first?

"*time filers for unemployment last week was 870?

"*thousand.

Which was up from the previous week.

Kimt news 3's nick kruszalnicki is live in mason city with a look at these troubling numbers.

Nick?

That's right george?

"* while te major stock indexes were all up today, there's no denying we're still reeling from the impacts of covid?

"*19.

Economis instructor rayce hardy tells me unemployment figures tell the real story of economic health.

Xxx "it seems some people are getting numb to the numbers.

Seeing hundreds of thousands every single week.

We had initial claims of over 800 thousand and our continuing claims are still over 12 and a half million."

Covid?

"*19 has sent scores of workers into unemployment.

According to hardy, many were employed by small, local companies.

He says another stimulus is needed.

"a lot of the small businesses are held in limbo by congress because they can't settle on whether or not, are they going to do a stimulus package or not?"

Government is also hard hit.

The state of minnesota once boasted a budget surplus, but is now over two billion dollars in the hole.

"our small businesses and state and local governments are in some dire straits.

They're going to need help.

They're going to need help from consumers, buying locally.

I know they're going to need help from the federal government."

Fraudsters are taking advantage of the unemployed ?

"* by stealing people's identities to file false unemployment claims. "anytime it seems that people are vulnerable, criminals just... blood in the water and they here in iowa ?

"* the state has seen a huge jump in initial unemployment claims. last week they climbed 42 percent from the previous week.

Live in mason city, nick kruszalnicki, kimt news 3.

Thanks nick.

And if you think your identity was stolen to file a false unemployment claim, there are some steps you can take to report it.

Visit our website at kimt dot com, where we'll link you to the f?

"*b?

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