Nearly two-thirds of Hoosier business owners in a new survey said they are optimistic or moderately optimistic about the Indiana economy over the next six months. But high gas prices may dampen the enthusiasm.
The job market slowed in March as companies hit the brakes on hiring amid uncertainty about the economy's growth prospects. The unemployment rate fell slightly, but mostly because more Americans stopped looking for work.
Bureau of Labor Statistics revises numbers, but region is still 30,000 jobs short of pre-recession peak.
Indiana’s unemployment rate took a sizable dip in February, falling to 8.4 percent, as new jobless claims hit a seven-year low.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment benefit applications fell by 5,000, to a seasonally adjusted 359,000. That's the smallest number of applicants since April 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, declined to 365,000.
About 10,000 Indiana residents who have been unemployed for more than 79 weeks will no longer be eligible to receive 20 more weeks of extended federal benefits after April 15 because the state's three-month average unemployment rate is no longer 110 percent higher than it was three years ago.
Indiana’s unemployment rate fell to 8.7 percent in January as the state added 13,000 private-sector jobs, the largest monthly increase in more than a year.
U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs in February to complete three of the best months of hiring since the recession ended.
Employers went on a hiring spree in January and drove down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent, its lowest point in nearly three years.
Indiana added 12,000 private-sector jobs in December, but the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 9 percent as a huge wave of Hoosiers entered the labor force.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week after three weeks of declines. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped for the fourth straight week.
The state’s unemployment rate held steady in November at a seasonally adjusted 9 percent, slightly higher than the overall U.S. rate that dropped to 8.6 percent, the state’s Department of Workforce Development said Tuesday morning.
The number of people applying for benefits fell last week to 366,000, the fewest since May 2008. If the number stayed that low consistently, it would likely signal that hiring is strong enough for unemployment rates to fall.
Employers added a net total of 120,000 jobs last month. The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row — the first time that has happened since April 2006.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years as more of the unemployed either found jobs or gave up looking and were no longer counted as jobless.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter, lower than an initial 2.5-percent estimate made last month. The government also said after-tax incomes fell by the largest amount in two years.
Indiana’s jobless rate rose to 9 percent in October, up from 8.9 percent the previous month, marking the fifth straight month the state’s unemployment rate has risen.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign that layoffs are easing and hiring may pick up.
