State unemployment rate dips to 9.1 percent

Indiana’s unemployment rate declined again, dropping to 9.1 percent in January, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Thursday morning.

The state’s jobless rate hasn’t been that low since January 2009. Only Nevada saw a greater decline in the rate.

Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in December, 9.8 percent in November, 9.9 percent in October and 10.1 percent in September. The rate topped out at 10.2 percent last year in July and August.

“2011 is off to a good start with strong employment gains,” DWD Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a prepared statement. “We’ve seen increases in almost all areas of employment.”

The state added 10,600 private-sector jobs in January after losing 9,100 of those jobs in December, the report said.

Sectors showing growth included construction, trade transportation and utilities, manufacturing and financial activities.

Sectors with declines included professional and business services, and private education and health services.

The national unemployment rate sank to 9 percent in January and to 8.9 percent in February, down from 9.4 percent in December.

Indiana is set to report February unemployment numbers March 25.

In the Midwest, only Kentucky reported an increase in unemployment in January. Illinois’ rate was 9 percent, followed by Ohio at 9.4 percent, Kentucky at 10.4 percent and Michigan at 10.7 percent.

Despite the decreasing rate, the number of unemployed Hoosiers rose to 294,580 in January, from a revised 283,803 in December.

In the Indianapolis metropolitan area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 8.7 percent in January, up from 8.4 percent in December but down from 10 percent in January 2010.

Comparisons of metro areas are most accurately made using the same months in prior years, because the government does not adjust the figures for factory furloughs and other seasonal fluctuations.