evidence: From mid-March 2020 to now, 4.6 million Georgians have turned to unemployment insurance. Excluding those with multiple episodes of job loss who therefore filed more than once as well as those who filed multiple claims for the same lost job, nearly 60 percent of Georgia’s pre-pandemic labor force have turned to the unemployment safety net at some point during the last year. New weekly claims continue to reflect high levels of joblessness, with over 39,000 Georgians filing for regular unemployment benefits during the week ending March 27, 2021. This is more than seven times the amount of new jobless claims that were filed during the last pre-pandemic week of March 2020. Continued claims—which signify people who continue to certify for pending payments after their initial claim, as well as those who certify to continue receiving payments – provide even greater context into persistent unemployment trends in Georgia. Continued claims at the end of March 2021 were more than five times greater than continued claims in the last pre-pandemic week of March 2020.