U.S. employers added 248,000 jobs in September, helping lower the unemployment rate to 5.9 percent, the lowest since July 2008. But nearly 100,000 stopped looking for work, lowering the percentage of Americans working or looking for work to the lowest level since February 1978.
Indiana lost 2,600 private-sector jobs in August despite more big gains in manufacturing-sector employment, the state’s Department of Workforce Development said Friday morning.
Indiana added 9,900 private-sector jobs in July, with more than half of them coming in the manufacturing sector, the state announced Monday morning.
July marked the sixth straight month of job growth above 200,000, evidence that businesses are shedding the caution that had marked the 5-year-old economic recovery.
The numbers suggest a strengthening job market, especially since hiring is at its healthiest clip since the late 1990s, and the 6.1 percent unemployment rate is at a 5 1/2-year low.
The state’s jobless rate held firm in May at 5.7 percent, following nine straight months of declines.
The U.S. economy has finally regained the jobs lost to the Great Recession, but a smaller percentage of Americans are actually working and median household income has declined considerably since before the recession.
Employers added 217,000 jobs in May, a substantial gain for a fourth straight month, fueling hopes that the economy will accelerate after a grim start to the year.
U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in April, the most in two years. The unemployment rate sank to 6.3 percent, its lowest level since September 2008. But the drop occurred because the number of people working or seeking work fell sharply.
The state’s unemployment rate continued to fall in March, dropping to less than 6 percent for the first time since July 2008.
The decrease suggests that employers expect stronger economic growth in the coming months and are holding onto their workers.
The state added 5,400 private-sector jobs February while the number of officially unemployed Hoosiers fell to fewer than 200,000 for the first time since August 2008, the state said.
The Hoosier state added 4,600 jobs in the manufacturing sector in January, the most in the country. But Indiana also lost 7,100 private sector jobs, leaving the state at a net loss of 2,500 jobs for the month.
Figures released Monday by the state Department of Workforce Development show Indiana's jobless rate for January fell four-tenths of a percentage point from the month before.
Employers added more workers than projected in February, while unemployment rose to 6.7 percent from 6.6 percent as more people entered the labor force.
That average indicates that companies are cutting few jobs, but employment growth has been lackluster in recent months.
Hamilton County employers are having trouble filling lower-wage jobs. At 4.5 percent in December, Hamilton County’s jobless rate was the lowest in the metro area and one of the lowest in the state.
The improvement came despite a small decline in private-sector employment of 4,800 jobs during the month.
Growing ranks of dropout workers have nagged the economy throughout its recovery, and now Indiana’s budget forecasters feel they can’t ignore the trend. They recently revised their outlook on state revenue downward, partly because so many Hoosiers stopped looking for jobs.
The number of newly formed Indiana companies slumped in 2013, the first such dip since the recession, but the small drop could actually be a positive sign for the economy. Established companies have more job openings than a few years ago, meaning workers have less incentive to start their own businesses, as thousands did when the economy tumbled.
