INDIANAPOLIS – The number of unemployment insurance claims in Indiana continues to decline, but is still thousands higher than the days before COVID-19.
About 44,000 unemployment insurance claims were filed in the last week, the lowest since the pandemic began in mid-March. But it’s still far greater than the pre-pandemic total, of about 2,000 claims per week.
Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne said Thursday the state has paid out nearly $1 billion since the beginning of April.
“When we look at our call center, call volume is still high,” Payne said. “More than 1.3 million call interactions in the month of April. So far in the month of May, we’ve had about 153,000. Our wait time is still high and our callback efficiency is improving.”
The number of claims peaked in late March at 139,000.
