Indiana’s unemployment rate jumps to 3.8 percent

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Indiana’s unemployment rate jumped three-tenths of a percentage point for the second month in a row in September, raising it to 3.8 percent.

The rate has risen from 3 percent in June, when it narrowly missed a state-record low of 2.9 percent, last achieved in 2000.

The state’s Department of Workforce Development announced the unemployment numbers Friday morning.

Indiana had the second largest rate increase in the nation, trailing only Michigan’s 0.4 percentage point rise.

Indiana’s labor force—which is composed of both employed and unemployed-but-willing-to-work residents—increased by 6,105 workers from August to September, to nearly 3.34 million. Indiana saw a decrease in employment of 3,583 and an increase in unemployment of 9,688, the state said.

Indiana’s labor-force participation rate—the percentage of the state’s population that is either employed or actively seeking work—rose one-tenth of a point, to 64.5 percent, in September. It remains well ahead of the national rate of 63.1 percent.

The national unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in September, down from 4.4 percent the previous month.

The state saw an increase of about 8,200 private-sector jobs during the month. Private-sector employment has grown by almost 25,000 over the year.
September jobs gains were seen in the sectors of Trade, Transportation and Utilities (4,300) and Leisure and Hospitality (1,800).

Indiana’s unemployment rate in September was lower than the rate in neighboring states Michigan (4.3 percent), Illinois (5 percent), Ohio (5.3 percent) and Kentucky (5.2 percent).

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