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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana saw a loss of 2,900 jobs in August, but the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate experienced its biggest one-month drop in more than two years, falling from 8.4 percent to 8.1 percent, the Department of Workforce Development reported Friday morning.
The state saw sizable job increases in manufacturing, health services and educational sectors, but that was offset by decreases in trade, transportation, utilities and construction. Indiana has a higher percentage of manufacturing jobs as a portion of the private sector than any other state.
Indiana lost jobs for the first time in five months and only the fourth time in 44 months.
“The significant decrease in Indiana’s unemployment rate in August is definitely encouraging, but the fact is too many Hoosiers are still unemployed,” said DWD Commissioner Scott Sanders. “This underscores the need to bring unemployed individuals into WorkOne following their fourth week of receiving benefits. It is vital we get folks on the path to re-employment as soon as possible.”
August's state employment total rose by more than 16,000 over July’s revised figure, to 2,940,433, while the number of unemployed dropped by more than 29,000, to 237,490. The overall labor force fell by 12,000, to 3,177,923.
The Indianapolis-Carmel metropolitan area saw unemployment fall to 6.9 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, down from 7.5 percent in July and from 7.8 percent in August 2012. Metro area figures are more reliable on a year-over-year basis due to seasonal fluctuations.
Indiana’s unemployment rate in August was lower than the rates in Illinois (9.2 percent), Michigan (9.0 percent) and Kentucky (8.4 percent), but higher than the rates in Ohio (7.3 percent) and the nation (7.3 percent).
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