PIERRE, S.D. – Last week South Dakota saw close to fifteen hundred people apply for unemployment benefits, which is more than two thousand less than the week before making the number of continued claims over twenty-two thousand. So while the number of people on assistance is increasing, the number of new applicants is decreasing.
A total of $3.9 million were paid out in state benefits, $12 million paid out in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, $525,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and $19,000 in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
And effective on June first teachers, substitute teachers, and school were no longer eligible to get unemployment benefits because they don’t work in the summer, except federal teachers and school workers.
Meanwhile, in Wyoming, Applications for temporary unemployment assistance in Wyoming declined during the week ending May 30 as the U.S. economy continues to struggle with measures to contain the coronavirus. The U.S. Employment and Training Administration said Thursday the number of applications submitted in Wyoming fell to 1,926, down 31% from the previous week but still up 338% compared to the same week last year. Wyoming has processed 43,444 claims for unemployment since March 14. That represents 16% of Wyoming’s total workforce eligible for the unemployment insurance program. Wyoming’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was 9.2%, up from 3.5% a year earlier. The nationwide rate was 14.7%.
