Indiana unemployment rate ticks up to 9.8 percent
The state’s jobless rate has been either 9.8 percent or 9.7 percent the past four months.
The state’s jobless rate has been either 9.8 percent or 9.7 percent the past four months.
New claims for unemployment benefits fell more than anticipated last week—partially due to changes in the calculations—as
layoffs ease and hiring slowly recovers.
The Indiana General Assembly finally adjourned its 2010 legislative session early Saturday with deals including a one-year
delay on unemployment insurance tax increases and aid for schools reeling from state budget cuts.
The impasse between the two parties over a delay in an unemployment-tax increase is expected to drag the legislative session
into the weekend. "Nobody is talking right now," says one legislator.
The state’s unemployment rate in January remained unchanged from the seasonally adjusted figure of 9.7 percent Indiana reported
in December.
The Labor Department figures suggest the job market is slowly healing but that significant hiring has yet to occur.
New claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly last week, mostly because state agencies processed a backlog of
claims caused by snowstorms the previous week.
The economy is as good or better in Hendricks County than anywhere else in the Indianapolis area.
Coping with wintery blasts is made easier by advancements in work-from-home technology. But different kinds of companies have
different policies when it comes to giving employees the option to telecommute or blow off the workday altogether.
Programs will bolster job opportunities for some 1,700 Indiana workers in sectors including health care and advanced manufacturing.
Fort Wayne Foundry Corp. will shutter the auto parts factory for the second time in a year, as its jobs head to Mexico, according
to a union official.
Whether to delay increases in taxes that employers pay to Indiana’s unemployment insurance fund is becoming a
contentious issue in the General Assembly.
Kmart’s announcement that it will close its store in Connersville in May will put 59 employees out of work. Fayette County,
where the city is located, already is strapped by steep job losses.
January’s report offers hope that employers may start adding jobs soon. Excluding the beleaguered construction industry, the private sector as a whole added 63,000 positions.
A pilot project is providing jobs for 70 ex-convicts, with their $10-an-hour wages covered
by Uncle Sam for six months. City officials hope they can then transition into other jobs or receive recommendations that
help them to find other work.
The president’s budget offers tax cuts for businesses, including a $5,000 tax credit for hiring new workers this year, help
for the unemployed and $25 billion more for cash-strapped state governments. Job creation will take precedence over stemming
a surging deficit.
Edy’s Grand Ice Cream says the new jobs are part of a company consolidation after an expansion of the Fort Wayne plant. The
hiring will increase the facilty’s workforce to about 600 people.
The fate of a bill that would delay unemployment tax increases on businesses remains unclear in the Democrat-controlled Indiana
House.
For the year, retail sales fell 6.2 percent, the biggest decline on government records that go back to 1992.