The number of Bartholomew County workers filing new jobless claims has remained steady over the past week, state figures show.
A total of 104 local workers filed initial unemployment claims last week, down one from the week before but significantly lower than 1,845 the week ending April 11, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Additionally, a total of 1,350 Bartholomew County workers were drawing jobless benefits the week ending Sept. 5, down from 1,417 the week before, but still lower than the 5,039 workers receiving benefits the week ending May 2.
However, the number of workers seeking jobless aid across the state increased last week for the fourth consecutive week, according to state figures.
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Last week, 13,851 workers in Indiana filed initial unemployment claims, up from 11,255 the previous week and 10,597 the week ending Aug. 22.
The latest round of jobless figures come as the Indiana Department of Workforce Development reported that the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.4% in August, down from 7.9% in July and 17.1% in April.
U.S. unemployment was 8.4% in August, down from 10.2% in July, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high number of people that illustrates the broad economic damage still taking place nine months after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S., The Associated Press reported.
The Labor Department said Thursday that U.S. jobless claims fell by 33,000 from the previous week and that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, compared with just 1.7 million a year ago.
The pandemic has delivered a colossal shock to the economy, according to wire reports. Until the pandemic upended the operations of American companies, from factories to family diners, weekly jobless aid applications had never exceeded 700,000 in the U.S. They’ve topped 700,000 for 26 consecutive weeks.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, collapsed at an annual rate of 31.7% from April through June, by far the worst three months on record, as millions of jobs disappeared, according to wire reports.
The economy and job market have recovered somewhat from the initial shock. Employers added 10.6 million jobs from May through August, but that’s still less than half the jobs lost in March and April.
The recovery remains fragile, imperiled by continuing COVID-19 infections as schools begin to reopen, and the failure to deliver another economic rescue package in Washington, according to the AP. And companies continue to lay off workers as they absorb sales lost to the pandemic.
