For John Holland, it just wasn’t worth working anymore.

With most businesses closed, his customers dwindled.

The last time he drove for Lyft, he averaged $3 an hour.

“I’m not willing to risk my life for $3 an hour,” he told the Charleston Post & Courier.

Gig workers like Holland don’t qualify for unemployment insurance.

But as part of the $2.2 trillion aid package passed by Congress, the unemployment rolls were opened up to gig workers, independent contractors and the self-employed.

All workers who qualify will get another $600 per week in addition to the unemployment benefits they qualify for, thanks to that aid package.

But to get that aid, states are being required to update the way they process and approve unemployment claims while handling a deluge of job losses.

It has been a brutal last few weeks for unemployment claims in SC. During the week ending April 4, more than 85,000 South Carolinians filed for unemployment.

The types of employers with the highest reported jobless claims in South Carolina, according to the SC Department of Employment and Workforce are:

1. Full-service restaurants: 29,708

2. Hotels: 8,375

3. Dentists’ offices: 6,119

4. Temporary help services: 5,715

5. Limited-service restaurants: 4,511

The number of unemployment claims coming from full-service restaurants is equal to the 4 next-highest categories combined, plus almost 5,000 more.

All of those workers have experienced delays in getting the aid they are owed.

None of the workers who filed claims have gotten their additional $600 a week yet. The state’s unemployment office said it would start paying it out this week.

For gig workers and selfemployed workers, the wait is longer. The state won’t start start processing applications for those workers until next week.