Continued unemployment claims see slight drop, initial claims creep upwards in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - First-time unemployment claims saw a slight uptick while continued claims dropped slightly in South Dakota’s latest jobs reports.

A total of 799 initial weekly unemployment assistance claims were made in South Dakota last week, according to the Department of Labor. It’s an increase of over 150 from the previous week’s total.

Continued claims for the week ending in June 20 dropped by 21 to 17,163, though this is substantially down from the peak of over 25,000 in early May. Continued claims indicates the number of unemployed workers eligible for and receiving benefits after their initial claim.

Thursday’s mixed jobs report comes as many sectors continue to struggle amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I want to remind claimants that not returning to work when there is available work could be considered a refusal of work or voluntary quit, resulting in the loss of benefits,” said state Labor and Regulation Secretary Marcia Hultman. “Employees absolutely have the right not to go to work, but that is a personal choice and may impact their employment status.”

Officials say a total of $3.0 million was paid out in state benefits, in addition to $9.8 million paid out in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, $628,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and $83,000 in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance July 5 was $126.3 million.

Nationwide, more than 1.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week.