AUSTIN, Texas – Job cuts across the state continue amid the coronavirus pandemic as more than 273,000 Texans filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the federal Labor Department’s latest numbers.

That is a dip compared to the previous week where more than 315,000 claims were filed. Still, the Texas Workforce Commission said Wednesday that it has received the equivalent of 1.5 years’ worth of claims in 30 days, with 1.2 million people filing. The agency also said it’s paid out $400 million in jobless benefits since the week beginning March 14. According to a new report, Texas is at risk of depleting its funds in the next month.

“Right now, as it stands, with the numbers that we know, we're looking at maybe an 18, probably as of today, about a 20 percent unemployment rate, which is historical,” said Dr. Michael Noel, an economics professor at Texas Tech University.

The current jobless numbers don’t include the thousands more Texans still struggling to get someone on the phone in order to file a claim. The commission has expanded its staff, including volunteer staff from the Texas House and Senate, added call centers and increased its number of servers. Agency officials say they’re swamped but are working to fix the backlog.

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"We are adding two additional call centers for a total of eight call centers and we are in the works on that and that should be coming soon," said agency spokesman Cisco Gamez.

Call centers are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. The commission has recommended staggered times for people to call in based on their area code to reduce the volume of calls.

Nationally, about 5.2 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Overall, roughly 22 million Americans have sought jobless benefits in the past month, which is easily the worst stretch of job losses on record.