Federal workers in W.Va. beginning to apply for unemployment

So far, about 200 federal employees across the state of West Virginia have begun the process of signing up for unemployment benefits. That’s according to numbers from WorkForce West Virginia.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, West Virginia had 23,270 federal workers. A spokesperson for the state Department of Marketing and Commerce said they expect to have exact numbers on how many of those workers have been furloughed by the end of the week.

West Virginia asked federal workers to wait until the government shutdown hit seven days before signing up for unemployment benefits.

The U.S. hit that mark Monday and the number of West Virginians applying is expected to grow throughout the week, should the shutdown continue.