Unemployment claims have soared in March as businesses deemed non-essential shut down to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Nearly 370,000 people filed initial claims in New York just last week.

During that same week last year, 13,304 people filed initial claims in New York, according to numbers released Thursday by the NYS Labor Department.

The following chart breaks down job losses in each region. It shows the number of initial claims filed over the last three weeks -- since the pandemic shutdown began. The numbers include the weeks ending March 14, 21 and 28. They are ranked by the highest percent change from 2019 to 2020.

Region 2020 2019 % change Long Island 61,652 4,154 1,384 % Western NY 45,332 3,258 1,291 % Capital 23,321 1,919 1,115 % New York City 188,929 15,676 1,105 % Hudson Valley 42,005 3,546 1,085 % Finger Lakes 30,735 2,715 1,032 % Central New York 18,823 1,780 957 % Mohawk Valley 9,747 1,024 852 % Southern Tier 12,792 1,354 845 % Out of state residents 22,919 3,016 660 % North Country 8,104 1,094 641 % Total 464,359 39,536 1,075 %

Across the U.S., initial unemployment claims rose last week to over 6.6 million, bringing the total number of people to file initial claims in the last two weeks in the country to nearly 10 million.

The numbers do not count the hundreds of people who cannot reach the NYS Labor Department to file claims. Their phone lines are jammed and the state’s website is glitchy.

People are calling hundreds of times a day.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologized Tuesday and said the state is working to improve the technology.

Unemployed people are making suggestions, including a return to paper applications.

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Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.