State’s unemployment rate held at 7.9 percent in May

Indiana’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.9 percent in May, although the state added 7,700 private-sector jobs during the month.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Friday morning that the May rate remained the same as the previous month, and below the national rate of 8.2 percent.

The addition of 7,700 jobs in May was smaller than the originally reported 15,400 jobs gained in April. DWD has since revised the April number downward to 9,900 jobs.

“Indiana continues to be a leader in job growth,” DWD Commissioner Scott B. Sanders said in a prepared statement.

Sanders said Indiana has added 38,700 private-sector jobs, including 12,200 in the manufacturing sector, since the beginning of the year.

Statewide non-farm employment in May totaled nearly 3 million on a seasonally adjusted basis. A total of 251,436 sought unemployment benefits, up from a revised 246,160 in April.

Sectors showing employment gains in May included trade, transportation and utilities (4,200 jobs), private educational and health services (4,100 jobs), and professional and business services (1,100 jobs).

The leisure and hospitality industry lost 1,000 jobs.

In the Indianapolis metropolitan area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 7.4 percent in May, down from 8.1 percent in May 2011.

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.