Lincoln – The number of Nebraska residents seeking unemployment benefits for the first time dropped again last week but is still far higher than usual as businesses struggle with the fallout from the coronavirus.

The state received 12,340 new unemployment claims during the week that ended April 18, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The number has declined since a record-setting surge that peaked at 26,788 in early April.

Nebraska has now seen about 95,000 claims over the past five weeks, well over double the number filed in a typical year.

Unemployment has soared in Nebraska and nationally due to state-mandated social distancing restrictions on businesses as well as Americans who are staying sheltered at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

Some Nebraska businesses have closed while others have had to scale back their operations and lay off employees.

The increase has swamped the Nebraska Department of Labor, despite an increase in the number of workers to process claims.

The department’s original goal of processing 90% of claims in three weeks has been lowered to processing 75% of the claims in four weeks, forcing some unemployed residents to wait longer for their benefit.

In Iowa, another 27,912 people filed unemployment claims during the week ending April 18, according to Iowa Workforce Development. That’s down from claims filed in previous weeks but still far above typical numbers.

There were 151,846 continuing unemployment claims.

Nationally, more than 4.4 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, In the last five weeks, about 26 million Americans have now filed for jobless aid.