OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nearly 5,900 Nebraska residents applied for unemployment benefits last week, a number that appears to be stabilizing after a record-setting surge driven by the coronavirus pandemic.
The new numbers bring the total number of claims in Nebraska to 129,000 since mid-March, although not all of those people are still unemployed. The number of claims in one week peaked at a record-shattering 26,788 during the week that ended April 4, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Last week, state officials received 5,875 new jobless claims. That's up slightly from 5,839 the previous week, but down from the 6,408 reported the week before that.
Nebraska never imposed an official stay-at-home order, but many businesses were still forced to close because of state-mandated social distancing restrictions. Some of those restrictions have since been eased, and even more will be relaxed on June 1.
Nationwide, about 41 million people have applied for aid since the virus outbreak intensified in March. About 21 million people are now receiving aid, which is a rough measure of the number of unemployed Americans.