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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana’s unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent in June after holding steady at 8.2 percent the previous two months, the state’s Department of Workforce Development said Friday morning.
Indiana saw total employment fall again—by 5,900 from May to June after a decline of 5,200 from April to May. The number of unemployed Hoosiers climbed to 267,142 in June, from a revised 259,336 in May.
Leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and manufacturing showed the most significant declines.
Sectors adding jobs included private education and health services, and financial activities.
Meanwhile, the nation’s unemployment rate also ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point in June, to 9.1 percent.
“This month, the nation and most of our neighboring states saw an increase in the unemployment rate,” Indiana DWD Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a prepared statement. “While this month’s news nationally and here in the state is discouraging, it is important to note that over the past year Indiana has seen a 2-[percentage point] drop in the unemployment rate, from 10.3 percent to 8.3 percent.”
Indiana still has the lowest unemployment rate in the Midwest. It was followed by Ohio at 8.8 percent, Illinois at 9.2 percent, Kentucky at 9.6 percent and Michigan at 10.5 percent.
In the Indianapolis metropolitan area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 8 percent in June, higher than the 7.8 percent reported in May but down significantly from the 9.2 percent in June 2010.
Comparisons of metro areas are more accurately made using the same months in prior years because the government does not adjust the figures for factory furloughs and other seasonal fluctuations.
The Indiana Business Research Center, part of Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, reported Friday morning that its Leading Index for Indiana, a measure of the state's economic vitality, edged out a tiny gain in June after reporting several months of neutral or negative movement.
"The LII's latest move is further evidence that the economic recovery is still gasping for air," Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis for the research center, said in a prepared statement.
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