Federal unemployment benefits of $600 a week were to expire today - Thursday, July 25.

“Unless Congress passes additional legislation that extends this program or funds something similar, those receiving unemployment will only receive their weekly benefit amount, a maximum of $326 a week,” Dan Ellzey,  Department of Employment and Workforce executive director, said.

Lexington County had only 828 initial unemployment claims filed the week ending June 20.

Richland and Greenville counties had 1,642 claims.

Charleston County had 1,242, Horry County 1,015 nd Spartanburg County 1,003 .

Overall in SC, the trend continues to decline with more than 17,000 people filed initial unemployment claims.

This brought the total number of claims filed in the last 14 weeks to 618,729.

The 17,098 claims filed represented a decrease of 2,268 claims from the previous week.

DEW has paid more than $2.5 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits over 14 weeks.

“Our latest initial claims number shows another decline, the lowest we have been able to report since early March,” he said