PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's unemployment insurance system has recovered from the financial problems that plagued it during the recession, and businesses are once again starting to hire workers, state Labor Secretary Pam Roberts said Wednesday.

"We are starting to see in the Department of Labor that the demand for workers statewide is really perking up," Roberts said at a meeting of a state advisory council on unemployment insurance.

Only 2,492 people were receiving jobless benefits in the last week of September this year, down from 4,695 in the same week two years ago, state Unemployment Insurance director, Pauline Heier, said. In September this year, 1,613 people were receiving benefits from the state trust fund, which covers the first 26 weeks of unemployment. The other 879 were getting benefits from federal funds that give extended coverage for jobless people.