Unemployment filings continue to slowly improve in New Hampshire

New Hampshire continues its slow but steady climb out of the recession, but it still has a long way to go.

Some 2,005 people filed initial unemployment claims the week ending Sept. 26, 5.3% fewer than the previous week’s revised figures. The latest total is still about four times pre-pandemic levels.

Those new jobless are joining the 34,335 Granite Staters already unemployed, a number that itself represents a 7.8% drop, or 2,906 individuals, from the previous week.

The good news is that more people are going back to work then getting laid off.

In other words, the economy is bad not horrible, and is getting better. But it isn’t getting better for those that who still can’t find work. That’s because this is the third week since the ending of a federal weekly benefits enhancement of $300 (already down from the original $600), meaning that their checks, on average, are less than half of the amount they were.

There are congressional talks to bring some of those enhanced benefits back, but given the acrimony over the upcoming election and Supreme Court battle, most observers are not optimistic that the next Covid-19 stimulus package will be passed in October.

New Hampshire’s recovery has been easily outpacing the nation’s, but this week it only did slightly better. Nationally, some 837,000 were laid off last week, a 4.1% decline. There were 11.8 million jobless Americans on Sept. 19, an improvement of 7.7%.