INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s unemployment rate skyrocketed more than five-fold last month due to the shutdown caused by the coronavirus, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Friday.
In April, the state’s unemployment rate reached 16.9%, which is higher than the national rate of 14.7%, according to state figures. By comparison, Indiana’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in March, lower than the national rate of 4.4%.
The new unemployment data came one day after Indiana reported that an additional 30,311 initial jobless claims were filed in the state last week, raising the total number of claims filed to 670,493 since March 15.
Jobless claims continued a downward trend in Bartholomew County during the week ending May 9, with 432 claims filed, according to the latest figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. A total of 9,250 initial unemployment claims have been filed in the county since March 15.
The greatest job losses have been seen in the leisure and hospitality and manufacturing sectors, with a combined loss of around 194,000 jobs, said Fred Payne, commissioner of the Indiana Development of Workforce Development.
“This is the highest (unemployment) rate that we’ve seen in Indiana since 1982, when it stood at 12.6%,” Payne said. “Our total private employment is down by 380,000 jobs over the month.”
The latest round of staggering jobless claims came as many experts forecast that the pandemic may cause the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the The Associated Press.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund said it expects the global economy to shrink 3% this year — far worse than its 0.1% dip in the Great Recession year of 2009 — before rebounding in 2021, according to wire reports.
The fund projects an economic contraction this year of 5.9% in the United States.
The federal government has estimated that the economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate in the first three months of the year, the sharpest quarterly drop since the 2008 financial crisis, according to wire reports. But that barely captures the enormity of the downturn, because the lockdowns were not imposed until late March.
The current quarter is expected to be much worse, with a staggering 40% drop projected.
The virus has killed more than 345,000 people worldwide, including at least 95,000 in the U.S., according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections globally topped 5.1 million, including more than 1.5 million in the U.S.
With signs that the outbreak has plateaued in places around the U.S., many governors have taken tentative steps to begin reopening their economies, according to wire reports. But surveys show that a large majority of Americans remain wary of returning to shopping, traveling and other normal economic activity.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, speaking at a Friday press conference, called the new unemployment figures “sobering,” but expressed optimism that the state’s economy will pick up steam during the second half of the year.
“There are some very good signs out there,” he said. “…A lot of our manufacturing is now phasing itself back online.”
