The latest employment numbers from the state also reversed two troubling indicators from July’s report: a significant decrease in the state’s labor force and in its labor-force participation rate.
A total of 162,009 people were receiving unemployment benefits in Indiana as of Sept. 5, the Labor Department said Thursday morning. That was up from 158,742 the previous week.
Indiana Department of Workforce Development chief of staff Josh Richardson said the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund is expected to run dry by the end of September.
The nation’s unemployment safety net is looking increasingly shaky, with a $300-a-week federal jobless benefit from the Trump administration close to running out just weeks after it began.
Unemployed Hoosiers can expect to start seeing the federal supplemental weekly benefit in about two weeks, state officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. economy has recovered about half of the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.
In Indiana, 10,783 people filed initial unemployment claims in the week ended Aug. 29, up from an adjusted number of 10,597 the previous week
A total of 169,336 people were receiving unemployment benefits in Indiana as of Aug. 15, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was down from 183,083 the previous week.
The unemployment rate in Indiana rebounded dramatically in July, although the positive economic indicator was undermined by a drop in the state’s labor force.
The number of laid-off workers seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose to 1.1 million last week after two weeks of declines.
Indiana has applied for the federal government’s Lost Wages Assistance program and hopes to begin delivering the $300 supplemental weekly payments to most people receiving unemployment benefits within two to four weeks of FEMA approval.
Claims fell nationally, but the U.S. Labor Department’s report Thursday marked the 20th straight week that at least 1 million people have sought jobless aid.
Enhanced unemployment benefits are expiring at the end of this week for millions of Americans.
Private sector employment increased as employees returned to work in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors, as well as in educational and health services.
Housing advocates are warning of a tidal wave of evictions in the state this summer unless an effort is coordinated to head it off.
The state’s jobless rate hit a whopping 17.5% in April, according to revised numbers released Friday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, before falling in May.
The staggering increase in Indiana’s jobless rate—which now is higher than the national rate—was due primarily to the loss of 380,500 workers in the private sector over the previous month.
Experts say the wave of layoffs and pay cuts that first ravaged the service industry in mid-March are starting to erode management, upper-level and even executive jobs.
Data for the report was culled from a federal survey performed in mid-March, just before unemployment claims escalated. However, there’s still evidence of the coronavirus-related sea change brewing in the workforce.
The additional $600 in unemployment benefits could start arriving Friday for some Hoosiers, but independent contractors and gig economy workers may be waiting until next month to see any payments.
