INDIANAPOLIS  — 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 Indiana Department of Workforce Development’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 ordered those businesses to close and ordered Hoosiers to stay at home from March 24 through April 7.  That was to limit the spread of the virus.

The only exceptions would be to go out and buy food or prescriptions, obtain health care or perform other essential tasks in attempt to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Indiana had an unemployment rate of just 3.1% in February.  That has now grown to nearly 5.4%.