Horry County had a record number of unemployment claims. When could benefits be paid?
The tourism industry across the country has been the hardest industry hit in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During March, employment in the hospitality industry fell by 459,000 across the county, according to the Department of Labor.
Horry County, where tourism is the main economic driver, led the state in unemployment claims filed with 9,672 seeking benefits in the last week.
South Carolina is seeing an influx of unemployment claims and the software that verifies social security numbers is overwhelmed. The Department of Employment and Workforce saw a 3,000 percent increase in claims filed since before the pandemic.
Still, if a claim is approved, residents can expect their benefits to arrive in seven to 14 days, according to DEW Spokesperson Heather Biance. But if the amount of claims keeps increasing as drastically as it did in past weeks, the amount of time between filing and receiving benefits could increase.
Part of the reason a claim could take long to file is due to previous employers not providing proof of employment fast enough as required. Biance said employers have 10 days to verify the person seeking unemployment was a former employee.
DEW Chief Administrative Officer Jamie Suber said the department is typically pretty lean in good economic times like South Carolina was experiencing before the pandemic. DEW is seeking to expand its workforce to be able to process claims quickly.
“Over a short period of time, we’re looking at going from 2,000 claims to 65,000 claims. It’s huge,” Suber said. “We’re trying to grow our staff and workforce to meet the needs of the state.”
The application to apply for benefits can be found online. If you do not have internet access, you must call 1-866-831-1724. DEW is entirely paperless, so online or over the phone are your only options to apply.
While typically independent contractors are not eligible for unemployment benefits, the federal coronavirus stimulus package is providing benefits to contractors as long as lost work is directly related to the pandemic.
DEW is doing updates to the online portal nightly to improve its capacity. The work will take place from 11 p.m. to 3 am. During that time claims cannot be filed.
