Unemployment claims in the state decrease

The state Department of Labor and Regulation saw a decrease in weekly claims for unemployment benefits this past week.  For the week ending May 23rd, a total of just more than 34-hundred claims for unemployment benefits were processed by the state.  This is a decrease of 481 claims from the prior week’s total.  

A total of four-million dollars was paid out in state benefits, in addition to  $12.6 million paid out in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and close to 700-thousand dollars in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. 

State Labor and Regulation Secretary Marcia Hultman said that Governor Kristi Noem signed an executive order this week extending the existing COVID-19 State of Emergency to December 30th of this year.  She said that means both the non-paid waiting week and work search requirement set to expire on May 31st will continue to be waived until further notice.