Indiana’s weekly unemployment claims remain near record levels. Almost 134,000 claims were filed last week, according to Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne.
“This is down a little bit from the previous week, but it still posts the second-highest number of weekly claims filed in Indiana history,” he said during state officials’ press conference Thursday.
Payne noted that those who are already eligible for unemployment will start getting another $600 starting the week of April 20. “There’s nothing additional that a claimant needs to do for that benefit,” Payne said. “We will process it along with the person’s normal unemployment compensation benefits.”
But he said the state’s system still doesn’t recognize the categories of workers who are newly-eligible under the federal CARES Act. “For an independent contractor, for those who are self-employed, our system doesn’t have any earnings data for them,” Payne explained. “So we’re going to have to partner with different agencies that have tax records. So our system isn’t designed to collect that information.”
Their claims will continue to be denied until the new system is in place, but a date hasn’t been announced yet. Payne said his department is trying to make sure those people won’t have to completely reapply when that happens, but they will have to provide additional earnings data.
