Indiana’s jobless rate appears to be in a holding pattern.
The Department of Workforce Development reported Indiana’s August jobless rate of 4.1% was unchanged when compared to July and June. The national jobless rate was 5.2% for the month.
The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
Indiana’s labor force had a net decrease of 2,499 from the previous month, the state said. This was a result of a decrease of 813 unemployed residents and a decrease of 1,686 employed residents.
Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stood at 3.34 million, the state said. Indiana’s 63.1% labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 61.7%.
The state said private sector employment has increased by 72,700 over the year and decreased by 3,400 from the previous month.
The monthly decrease is primarily due to losses in the manufacturing (-4,300) and the leisure and hospitality (-2,400) sectors, the state said. Losses were offset by gains in the private educational and health services (1,900) and other sectors including mining, logging, information, and other services except public administration (1,100) sectors.
Indiana’s total private employment in August stood at 2,648,800, which is 91,700 below the December 2019 peak.
August jobless rates fell across several northern Indiana metro areas.
The Elkhart-Goshen area jobless rate for August was 2.8%, down from 2.9% in July and down from 6.4% in August 2020.
In the Gary area, the August jobless rate was 5.9%, down from 7% in July and down from 9.6% from August 2020.
The Michigan City-La Porte area jobless rate in August was 5.4%, down from 5.9% in July and down from 9.4% in August 2020.
The South Bend-Mishawaka jobless rate in August was 4.3%, down from 4.7% in July, which was down from 8.5% in August 2020.
