Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana’s unemployment rate dipped two-tenths of a percentage point in November, settling at 3.7 percent.
The rate has crept up from 3 percent in June, when it narrowly missed a state-record low of 2.9 percent, last achieved in 2000.
The state’s Department of Workforce Development announced the unemployment numbers Friday morning. The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month.
Indiana’s labor force—which is composed of both employed and unemployed-but-willing-to-work residents—decreased by 15,398 workers from October to November, to 3.32 million. The decrease was a result of 5,516 unemployed residents no longer seeking employment and a 9,882 decrease in residents employed.
Indiana’s labor-force participation rate—the percentage of the state’s population that is either employed or actively seeking work—sank three-tenths of a point, to 63.9 percent in November. It remains well ahead of the national rate of 62.7 percent.
The state saw a decrease of about 4,200 private-sector jobs during the month. Private-sector employment has grown by almost 13,700 over the year.
November jobs gains were seen in the construction sector (4,900). Job losses were primarily in the sectors of Trade, Transportation and Utilities (2,900) and Leisure and Hospitality (2,500).
Indiana’s unemployment rate in November was lower than the rate in neighboring states Michigan (4.6 percent), Illinois (4.9 percent), Ohio (4.8 percent) and Kentucky (4.7 percent).
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.