By Ray King
Governor Asa Hutchinson on Friday announced that he is adding $1 million to the fund set up to assist business owners who lost business because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his daily press conference, the Governor said $5 million which was in the fund has been depleted and 246 state businesses took advantage of the program, helping to retain 3,500 jobs.
At the same press conference, Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston said 170,000 people have filed unemployment insurance claims in the state and the state’s hotline has expanded to seven days a week to accept the claims.
Also, Preston said software which will allow the state to accept claims from self-employed workers, freelance workers and others is expected to be operational by the end of the month. He said the state is anticipating at least 125,000 people to file claims for the Pandemic Unemployment provision of the CARES act.
