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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 remained unchanged at 8.7 percent in March despite the loss of 11,000 private-sector jobs.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Friday morning that the loss of jobs was the first monthly decline for the state in more than a year.
Most of the losses—5,900 jobs—were experienced in the trade, transportation and utilities sectors. Small increases were seen in construction (900 jobs) and manufacturing (200 jobs).
State employment has increased in 38 of 43 months since July 2009, the department said.
Statewide non-farm employment in March totaled 2.8 million on a seasonally adjusted basis. A total of 283,633 people sought unemployment benefits, down from a revised 291,513 in February.
Before March, Indiana’s unemployment rate had been on a slow but steady rise after falling to 8 percent in November.
In Marion County, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 9.2 percent in March, down from a revised 9.3 percent in February, but up from 8.9 percent in March 2012. The county has been losing jobs, dropping to 415,594 in March from 416,991 a year earlier.
Comparisons of metro areas are more accurately made using the same months in prior years because the government does not adjust the figures for factory furloughs and other seasonal fluctuations.
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