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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 continued to descend in November and hit a low that the state has not seen since November 2000, according to numbers released Friday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The state’s unemployment rate dropped from 3.3% in October to 3% in November—a far cry from the mid-teen highs seen in the first months of the pandemic in 2020. Meanwhile, the national rate descended from 4.6% in October to 4.2% in September.
However, the state’s labor force participation rate also fell, drooping from 62.7% in October to 62.5% in November—a record low for at least the last 45 years if one doesn’t count its sudden fall to 61.2% and quick recovery in the first three months of the pandemic.
The labor force participation rate indicates the percentage of all people of working age who are employed or are actively seeking work. In effect, a labor force participation rate of 62.5% means that more than a third of Hoosiers of working age are not employed and are not seeking work.
Indiana’s labor force participation rate hovered near 68% from 2001 to 2003 and then began a bumpy descent to the current level of 62.5%.
The national labor force participation rate in November was 61.8%.
The unemployment rate is a different measure, only representing those in the labor force who are actively looking for work but cannot find a job.
An estimated 100,696 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported. That’s down from 110,175 in October.
Indiana’s labor force—composed of both employed and unemployed-but-willing-to-work residents—had a net decrease of 7,944 over October’s tally to about 3.32 million. This was a result of an increase of 1,705 employed residents and a decrease of 9,649 unemployed residents.
Total private employment stands at 2,689,100, an improvement over 2,670,500 in October. Total private employment is now 51,400 below the December 2019 peak.
The monthly increase was due in part to job gains in the Manufacturing (5,000); Leisure & Hospitality (3,300); professional & Business Services (2,900); Trade, Transportation & Utilities (2,300); and Construction (1,500) sectors.
Friday’s report broke out unemployment rates for six nearby states, five of which had higher unemployment rates than Indiana: Illinois (5.7%), Kentucky (4.1%), Michigan (5.9%), Ohio (4.8%), and Minnesota (3.3%). Wisconsin was even with Indiana at 3%.
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