New jobless claims in Indiana significantly decreased last week, but still remained extraordinarily high as evidence mounts that the resurgent coronavirus is stalling hiring and slowing an economic rebound in several areas of the United States.
Last week, 12,533 workers in Indiana filed initial unemployment claims, down 7,596 from the previous week after rising for two consecutive weeks, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Before the pandemic, the state was typically seeing 2,000 to 3,000 initial claims.
A total of 218,351 Hoosiers were drawing unemployment benefits as of July 25, the first decrease since the week ending June 27, according to state figures. By comparison, the number of workers receiving jobless benefits last year ranged from 12,826 to 23,149 in any given week.
In Bartholomew County, 168 workers filed for initial unemployment benefits last week. That was down from 337 the previous week and the lowest since the pandemic forced businesses to shut down and lay off workers earlier this year.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Bartholomew County saw an average of around 29 weekly initial jobless claims from 2015 to 2019.
A total of 1,972 workers in Bartholomew County were receiving unemployment benefits as of July 25, down from 2,080 the previous week.
After peaking at more than 1,800 initial claims in April, weekly claims had been declining in Bartholomew County during the pandemic until showing some weekly increases in June and July.
Big spikes in claims in Indiana late in the month were attributed partly to organized fraud that had previously struck several other states, according to wire reports.
It is unclear the extent to which increases in claims in Bartholomew County were related to organized fraud.
The new unemployment figures came as the United States is struggling to emerge from the devastating recession that caused the economy to shrink at a nearly 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter, the worst quarterly fall on record, The Associated Press reported.
Though the United States added 1.8 million jobs in July, it was much lower than June’s 4.8 million and May’s 2.7 million jobs. Even counting the hiring of the past three months, the economy has now recovered only about 42% of the 22 million jobs it lost to the pandemic-induced recession, according to the Labor Department’s jobs report released Friday.
The economy has since started to grow again, and many economists have forecast a solid rebound in the July-September quarter, though not nearly enough to offset the second quarter’s dizzying fall, according to wire reports.
However, an acceleration of the viral outbreak that began in late June has led many states and cities to close bars and other businesses for a second time and have dampened confidence, causing many consumers to continue limiting their shopping, traveling, eating out and gathering in crowds.
With much of the nation having paused or reversed plans to restore economic activity, many employers are still reluctant or unable to hire and consumers remain generally hesitant to shop, travel or eat out, according to The Associated Press.
Until the health crisis is solved through a vaccine or an effective treatment, most experts say the economy will struggle to sustain any recovery.
