South Dakota sees drop in first-time, continued unemployment claims

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - South Dakota’s latest jobs report followed the national trend as unemployment claims fell.

The Department of Labor reported Thursday a drop in both first-time and continued unemployment benefits claims.

Initial claims dropped by 120 to 215, officials say. Prior to the pandemic, this number hovered between 200-300 in South Dakota. It peaked as high 8,000 in early April 2020, then generally fell between 400-900 for most of the next year. The number has approached pre-pandemic levels the past several weeks.

Continued claims fell by 160 to 2,934. This indicates the number of unemployed workers eligible for and receiving benefits after their initial claim.

For the week ending April 24, a total of $613,000 was paid out in state benefits, in addition to $1 million in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, $120,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and $301,000 in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance was $151.8 million on April 25.

Nationwide unemployment claims dropped by 13,000 to 553,000, the lowest level since the pandemic began.