LINCOLN — New jobless claims filed last week pushed the pandemic-driven total past 100,000 in Nebraska as the state unemployment system struggled to cope. A federal report released Thursday showed that 8,197 Nebraska workers filed first-time unemployment claims last week. That was down from the week before but is more than 10 times the number seen before the coronavirus started wreaking havoc on the nation’s economy.

State Labor Commissioner John Albin acknowledged that the state has not kept pace with the deluge. He said that Nebraskans filed three years’ worth of claims in two months and that only two years’ worth have been paid so far. The peak came during the first week of April, when almost 27,000 Nebraskans filed initial claims. “The numbers are just unparalleled,” he said.

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