Indiana's unemployment rate remained unchanged between June and July, standing at 4.1 percent, but some areas are seeing job recovery faster than others.

The agency started August with more than 17,000 pending appeals after peaking with nearly 22,000 such appeals in January. Only California, Texas and Virginia -- states with much larger populations -- had more unsettled cases.

State officials filed an appeal this week in an ongoing attempt to withdraw Indiana from federal programs that expanded unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

Federal unemployment benefits are back on in Indiana. State officials said they've already paid 25,000 people on the first day while they also gave updates on unemployment fraud and overpayments at a press conference.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development is reopening federal benefits Friday. The agency also confirmed it plans to make up payments people would have received last month if they were still eligible for assistance.

After weeks of legal filings, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development says it estimates federal benefits to be available again starting July 16.

Attorneys for the state maintain Indiana can’t continue paying out the benefits because the state has already ended its agreement with the federal government to administer the federal programs.

Although the number of unemployed Hoosiers rose, so did the number of people with jobs or looking for work.