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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 eked up one-tenth of a percentage point in October, rising to 3.9 percent.
The rate has crept up 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. The national unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in October, up from 4.2 percent the previous month.
Indiana’s labor force—which is composed of both employed and unemployed-but-willing-to-work residents—decreased by 11,694 workers from September to October, to 3.33 million. The decrease was a result of 2,351 unemployed residents seeking employment and a 14,045 decrease in residents employed.
Indiana’s labor-force participation rate—the percentage of the state’s population that is either employed or actively seeking work—sank three-tenths of a point, to 64.2 percent in October. It remains well ahead of the national rate of 62.7 percent.
The state saw an increase of about 2,500 private-sector jobs during the month. Private-sector employment has grown by almost 22,600 over the year.
October jobs gains were seen in the sectors of Financial Activities (3,400) and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (2,100). Gains were partially offset by losses in the Professional and Business Services sector (3,000) and Construction (2,400).
Indiana’s unemployment rate in October was lower than the rate in neighboring states Michigan (5.0 percent), Illinois (5.8 percent), Ohio (5.0 percent) and Kentucky (4.9 percent).
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