Furloughed federal government workers filed more than 10,000 claims for unemployment benefits in the District of Columbia as the government shutdown persists almost a week.
D.C. Department of Employment Services spokeswoman Najla Haywood says the claims filed by Monday represent a major increase. Under the District's recent unemployment rate, the agency usually receives 600 unemployment claims per week.
In Maryland, there were 16,000 federal unemployment claims as of Friday. That's almost four times the number of claims from federal workers in an entire year. The first checks are being sent this week.
Congress has begun considering retroactive pay for federal workers when the government reopens. If workers receive retroactive pay, they will have to pay back any unemployment benefits.
Virginia did not provide an update on claims Monday.
