By Lakeria Kelley Staff Writer Intern@WatongaRepublican.com
Since March, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has paid out over $2.1 billion in unemployment benefits. Over the last week, OESC has been working to serve Oklahomans at the Reed Event Center in Midwest City.
To continue serving Oklahomans safely and efficiently, OESC has added events in Midwest City on Monday, July 13, and Tuesday, July 14, as well as events at Expo Square in Tulsa on July 15-16, to account for the high volume of claimants who require inperson help.
“We’ve made significant progress to help Oklahomans receive their unemployment benefits over the past several days at our events in Midwest City. Our team has been working tirelessly and has ensured we meet our anticipated goal of serving 500 Oklahomans every single day we have had our in-person events over the past week,” said OESC Interim Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt.
According the chart, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims in the week ending July 4 was 1.314.000, a decrease of 99.000 from the previous week's revised level of 1.413.000. The four-week moving average was 1.437.250, a decrease of 63.000 from the previous week's revised average of 1.500.250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12 percent for the week ending June 27, a decrease of 0.5 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate of about 13 percent.
Individuals seeking unemployment benefits under the CARES Act should go to https://ui.ok.gov and create an account with the Get Started button to connect their social security number and pull all unemployment information into one location. Unemployment claimants should be aware that not returning to work when recalled or when work is available could potentially lead to disqualification from receiving unemployment benefits.
Lakeria Kelley can be reached at Intern@WatongaRepublican.com