South Dakota Jobless Numbers For Week Ending April 3

The employment recovery is going strong in South Dakota according to the latest jobless numbers released by the Department of Labor and Regulation.

For the week of Marck 28 to April 3, a total of 243 South Dakotans filed an initial weekly claim. That is down 56 claims from last week's total of 299. South Dakota remains within the pre-pandemic range of 200 to 300 average weekly claims.

Get our free mobile app

The state saw a huge decrease in continued claims. 3,792 claims were filed for the week ending March 27. That's a drop of 1,057 from last week's total of 4,849. This is the number of unemployed workers who are eligible for and continuing to receive benefits after their initial claims.

Last week, South Dakota paid out $1 million in state unemployment benefits. Approximately $366.1 million in claims has been paid out since March 16, 2020.

Nationally, initial jobless claims unexpectantly rose. Another 744,000 Americans lost their job for the week ending April 3, according to Fox Business. Analysts were expecting 680,000. This week's number is up from last week and much higher than two weeks ago when claims dropped 658,000. their lowest level since the pandemic began.

Continued claims dropped sightly coming in at 3.7 million. Fox Business says the economy added 916,000 jobs according to the March jobs report. The nation's "official" unemployment rate is now 6%.