Unemployment insurance applications in Minnesota the past month alone have doubled all of 2019.
219,625 Minnesotans applied last year. Since March 16, 2020, it’s 451,790, or 14 percent of the labor force. They’re also seeing racial disparities with 12.2 percent of the white workforce applying, compared to 25.8% of people of color in the workforce.
“The scope and scale of this is stunning,” Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said. “Of course those aren’t just numbers, those are real people either completely out of work or working much less than they did before. They have families to take care of and bills to pay and rent or mortgages to pay and so we know this is a really difficult time for people.”
Grove advises all self-employed or independent contractors apply. They’ll be denied based on current rules since no state has started paying out to those folks, but they’ll be in the system for when the platform is ready.
Find more information at DEED's coronavirus website here.
