South Dakota unemployment claims began to spike to all-time highs during March 2020
CREDIT: SDPB
South Dakota’s unemployment claims are down.
About 300 South Dakotans have filed initial unemployment claims in the past week. That’s down by five claims from the week before. There are about 5,000 continuing claims for unemployment. That number is down by about 600 claims.
The state paid out $1.3 million in benefits last week. That’s in addition to roughly $1.9 million in pandemic-related unemployment compensation.
Since the pandemic began, the state has paid about $359 million in benefits.
Department of Labor and Regulation officials say for anyone who first filed for unemployment last March, the benefit year is now ending. New claims need to be filed each year to redetermine eligibility.