By CBS 17 Digital Desk | May 4, 2020 at 12:04 PM EDT – Updated May 4 at 12:04 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – More than 1 million North Carolinians have filed for unemployment since mid-March, according to the Department of Commerce.
A total of 1,008,641 claims have been filed between March 15 to May 3.
Of those, at least 847,748 are related to COVID-19, the Department of Commerce said. That figure could be higher but it is up to the person filing to give a reason behind their unemployment.
The state has paid out $1.25 billion in unemployment to 444,422 claimants.
More than $711 million of those funds are from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. North Carolina’s unemployment insurance trust fund has about $4 billion in it.
The Department of Commerce said 993,527 claims have been filed online while 15,114 were made via phone.
Gov. Roy Cooper has made several statements calling for expansion of the staff handling unemployment claims.
On April 30, he said it was “unacceptable” that North Carolinians were having issues filing claims with the Employment Securities Commission.
Copyright 2020 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.