Indiana jobless claims surged to 120,000 last week

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Initial unemployment insurance claims surged to 120,331 in Indiana last week and more than one in 20 Hoosier workers have now lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, the state reported.

The new claims released Tuesday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development represent a more than 50-fold increase from just 2,312 two weeks ago, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

The agency's Hoosiers by the Numbers data site reported that 3.7% of Indiana workers lost their jobs in a single week as the pandemic idled restaurants, bars, and other nonessential businesses.

Gov. Eric Holcomb has told non-essential businesses to close and ordered Hoosiers to stay at home from March 24 through April 7 except to buy food or prescriptions, obtain health care or perform other essential tasks in attempt to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

All told, 176,251 Indiana residents have lost their jobs since the pandemic became a national crisis. That's about 5.37% of the 3,278,102 Hoosiers who were employed in February, according to the agency.

Indiana had an unemployment rate of just 3.1% in February.