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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 has dipped below double digits for the first time since March, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Tuesday morning.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 9.9 percent in October, from 10.1 percent the previous month.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have seen strong growth in several key industries,” DWD Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a written statement. “Overall, private sector employment has increased twice as fast in Indiana as the nation.”
Indiana gained 49,700 private-sector jobs this year, an increase of 2.1 percent over the same time last year. In October, the state gained 7,600 private-sector jobs after losing 7,500 in September.
Sectors reporting job growth included professional and business services; construction; private education and health services; and trade, transportation and utilities.
Sectors reporting declines included leisure and hospitality, and government.
Indiana and its Midwestern neighbors all reported unemployment-rate drops in October. Illinois has the lowest rate, 9.8 percent, followed by Indiana and Ohio at 9.9 percent, Kentucky at 10 percent, and Michigan at 12.8 percent.
The national rate held steady at 9.6 percent.
The number of unemployed Hoosiers fell to 288,041 in October, from a revised 297,753 in September.
In the Indianapolis metro area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 8.5 percent in October, down from 8.7 percent in September, but up from 8.3 percent in October 2009.
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.
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