Indiana trends in right direction regarding unemployment
Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne spoke extensively about the state of unemployment in Indiana on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know.
Posted: Apr 1, 2021 6:14 PM
Posted By: Dominic Miranda
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne spoke extensively about the state of unemployment in Indiana on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know.
Indiana’s current unemployment rate is at 4%. That’s down significantly from the record high of 16.9% the state saw in April 2020. Commissioner Payne says Indiana is trending upward.
Payne says nearly 850,000 Hoosiers have been paid unemployment benefits since March 2020. From 2015 to 2019, there were 495,348 total Hoosiers paid unemployment insurance.
State leaders continue to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine as cases decline and as the National Guard leaves nursing homes after helping them manage disease spread.Â
Gov. Eric Holcomb announced these and other updates in a weekly briefing on the pandemic, starting with good news: Indiana’s COVID-19 positivity trend is declining, going from 16.5% early this month to 9.1%. Daily hospital admissions are also dropping, though more data are being collected.
Hoosiers continue to die from the virus, however, with the state recording 40 new deaths Wednesday. That’s an increase of 200 from last week, totaling 9,470 deaths in Indiana. The state is also bracing for new strains of the virus that have emerged around the world.