1. More than 30 million unemployment claims have been filed since March 8
2. Nebraska to hold primary elections as scheduled May 12
3. California voters approve three, defeat two local tax measures May 5

More than 30 million unemployment claims have been filed since March 8

How has the coronavirus, and responses to it, affected the economy? Today we take a look at one indicator—unemployment claims.

According to Labor Department data released Thursday, 2.82 million American workers filed for unemployment during the week ending May 2. Since March 8, 30.76 million people have filed unemployment claims.

Eligibility requirements for receiving unemployment insurance vary by state. Generally, employees are considered eligible for unemployment if they were laid off because there was not enough work or the employer closed. Employees are generally considered ineligible if they were fired for misconduct.

State governments track unemployment claims and report them to the federal government on a weekly basis. Each Thursday, the Department of Labor releases preliminary unemployment figures for the week ending the previous Saturday, as well as final numbers for the week before that.

Nationally, there have been 9,390 unemployment filings per 100,000 people since March 8.


Adjusted for population, the five states with the most claims were:

• Kentucky (15,088 claims per 100,000 residents)
• Georgia (15,084)
• Hawaii (14,974)
• Rhode Island (14,705)
• Nevada (13,678)

The five states with the fewest claims per capita were:

• South Dakota (4,277 claims per 100,000 residents)
• Utah (4,587)
• Wyoming (5,669)
• Nebraska (5,767)
• Texas (6,274)

Overall, fewer unemployment claims were filed last week than the week before, when 3.47 million Americans filed for unemployment. Unemployment claims were down in 44 states relative to the prior week.

Here are some other notable coronavirus-related updates since Thursday's Brew:

• Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) postponed the state's presidential preference primary a second time, from June 2 to July 7. Delaware's presidential primary was originally scheduled to take place on April 28. Carney also announced that the state would mail absentee ballot applications automatically to all eligible voters in the primary.
• The stay-at-home orders in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island are set to expire today. So far, stay-at-home orders in 15 states have expired. Another seven states never implemented stay-at-home orders. The next states where orders are scheduled to expire are Arizona, Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont—all on May 15.
• The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in a lawsuit over a Pennsylvania order curtailing the operations of non-essential businesses, allowing the state supreme court's ruling, which upheld the order, to stand. On March 24, a number of Pennsylvania businesses petitioned the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to vacate Governor Tom Wolf's (D) March 19 order restricting the operations of non-essential businesses in the state. 
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that the moratorium on evictions in that state was extended an additional 60 days through August 20 for those individuals impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. 
• North Dakota Voters First—proponents of the North Dakota Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting, Redistricting, and Election Process Changes Initiative—filed a lawsuit seeking an order that allows signatures to be gathered electronically.
• Fair Maps Nevada—proponents of the Nevada Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative—filed a lawsuit seeking an order that allows electronic signatures and extends signature deadlines.

Learn more

       

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Nebraska to hold primary elections as scheduled May 12

Twenty states and one U.S. territory have postponed state-level elections over the last two months due to the coronavirus outbreak. Since March 17, only two states have held elections with limited in-person voting.

Nebraska will hold its statewide primary elections as scheduled on Tuesday—May 12. It will be the first state to hold in-person statewide elections since Wisconsin on April 7. (In-person voting in Ohio's April 28 statewide elections was limited to individuals with disabilities and those without home mailing addresses.)

Nebraska is one of 27 states that have changed its absentee and mail-in voting procedures. Governor Pete Ricketts (R) and Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) announced March 26 that every registered voter would receive an absentee ballot application by mail. Voters can return ballots via the mail or deposit them in secure drop boxes outside county election offices. Election offices must physically receive absentee ballots no later than the time polls close at 8 p.m. CT May 12.

Evnen told the Omaha World-Herald April 11 that more than 200,000 registered voters had requested a mail-in ballot. A total of 261,802 votes were cast in the state’s Democratic and Republican 2018 gubernatorial primaries. Evnen also said many of Nebraska’s regular polling sites will be open for in-person voting on May 12.

Nebraska voters will be deciding both parties’ presidential primaries as well as primaries for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Ben Sasse (R), all three U.S. House districts, one of five seats on the Nebraska Public Service Commission, 25 of 49 districts in the state Senate, and various municipal offices.

Voters will also cast ballots in nonpartisan primaries for two of eight seats on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and four of eight seats on the Nebraska State Board of Education. The top two finishers in each of those races will advance to the general election, even if there are only two candidates running. Just one of those six primaries—for the District 2 seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents—has more than two candidates.

California voters approve three, defeat two local tax measures May 5

Voters in the city of Blythe, California, and special districts within Contra Costa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside, and Sonoma counties voted on five different local tax measures in all-mail elections May 5. According to unofficial results, three measures were approved and two were defeated.

Voters approved the following measures:

• Voters in the city of Blythe approved an additional 1% sales tax, raising the overall sales tax rate from 7.75% to 8.75%. The tax is estimated to generate $1.144 million per year in general fund revenue. The measure was ahead 71% to 29% and required a simple majority to pass.
• Voters in Contra Costa County Service Area No. P-2 Zone A (Blackhawk) approved a parcel tax to fund police services. It was ahead by 73% to 27% and required a two-thirds (66.67%) supermajority vote for approval. The measure authorized a parcel tax of $395 per residential unit, $2,370 per parcel for property designated as commercial/industrial/institutional, and $11,852 per parcel for property designated as commercial/theater. 
• Voters in the Coast Life Support District, a district primarily providing ambulance services that overlaps parts of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, approved a parcel tax ranging from $61 to $1,220 per year depending on the property type. It was ahead by 81% to 19%, and it required a two-thirds (66.67%) supermajority vote for approval.

Voters defeated the following measures:

• Voters in the Hamilton Branch Fire Protection District defeated a parcel tax measure to increase its annual parcel tax by $175 per parcel in order to fund fire protection and emergency medical services. It was behind the 66.67% supermajority requirement with a vote of 64% to 36%.
• Voters in the Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District defeated a measure to increase the district’s annual parcel tax rate to between $160 and $240 for residential parcels depending on size. The measure would also have increased the parcel tax rate for non-residential buildings, agricultural structures, and vacant or large parcels. The measure was behind the 66.67% supermajority requirement with a vote of 63% to 37%.

Parcel taxes are taxes unique to California that are based on units or characteristics of property rather than assessed value.

In California’s March 3 primary, voters decided 293 local measures, of which 237—81%—were bond or tax measures. Of those,

• Voters decided 45 sales tax measures, approving 24 and defeating 21. From 2014 through 2019, voters approved 76% of local sales tax measures in California.
• Voters decided 54 parcel tax measures on the March 3 ballot. Nineteen—35.2%—were approved and 35 were defeated. From 2003 through 2019, voters approved 57.5% of local parcel tax measures.

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