JOBS & WORKFORCE

Indiana requires employers to add job titles, hours and apprenticeship status to quarterly wage reports starting 4Q2026

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development announced on 2026-10-05 that employers must submit enhanced quarterly wage records beginning with fourth-quarter 2026 (4Q2026), with the first enhanced report due January 31, 2027. Required new fields include job title, hours paid, reporting unit number and apprenticeship/internship status; only 2018-aligned SOC codes will be accepted.

BUSINESSINDY BRIEFBy BusinessIndy Editorial StaffCommentsPublished October 7, 2026 at 7:27 AM EDTOriginal reporting: October 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM EDT · Brief prepared from earlier coverage

AI-generated illustration of the topic: Indiana requires employers to add job titles, hours and apprenticeship status to quarterly wage reports starting 4Q2026 — AI illustration · Not a photograph of the reported event.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced on 2026-10-05 that, beginning with fourth-quarter 2026 wage reports (4Q2026) — the first enhanced reports are due January 31, 2027 — employers must add specified data to their regular quarterly wage filings. Required additional elements include job title, hours paid, reporting unit number and apprenticeship/internship employment; employers will otherwise continue to report existing information. DWD also said only valid Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes aligned to the 2018 system will be accepted.

DWD is developing reporting guidance, technical specifications, FAQs and resources to help employers comply. The agency lists a Letter to Employers, a Letter to Third-Party Administrators and a 'How to Use OccuCoder' resource on the page, and said it will provide information in the coming weeks to assist employers in identifying appropriate SOC codes; the web page is marked 'under development.'

WHY IT MATTERS

What changed and who this affects: Employers that submit Indiana quarterly wage reports will need to add new worker-level details starting with 4Q2026 filings. That means payroll teams, human-resources staff and third-party administrators who prepare wage records must collect and transmit extra fields for each employee alongside the wage data they already send.

What the new pieces are and why DWD wants them: The announcement requires job titles, hours paid, a reporting unit number and whether a worker is in an apprenticeship or internship. It also requires occupational codes from the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system — SOC codes are the standardized numerical labels governments and researchers use to classify types of jobs. The department says these additions will let it better identify which jobs employers are filling, where workers are needed, and whether education and training programs lead to employment and higher wages.

Next steps and what to watch: DWD is preparing technical specifications, FAQs and tool materials (including guidance for using OccuCoder) and said it will publish additional information "in the coming weeks." Employers should watch DWD’s employer resources page for those materials and confirm that any third-party payroll vendors can supply the required fields and 2018 SOC codes before the 2027-01-31 filing deadline for 4Q2026.

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