Thousands of Indiana’s rank-and-file factory workers have seen their earnings lose ground to that of white-collar workers. The gap has grown even as manufacturers expect their assembly-line workers to have more skills and more advanced education.
Sensient Technologies Corp. has alerted state officials that it will lay off 125 workers from its Indianapolis operations. That follows the company’s announcement that it plans to move its local Flavors & Fragrances Group headquarters to suburban Chicago.
A plan aimed at matching up Indiana's workforce training programs with available jobs unanimously cleared the state House on Tuesday, as legislators from both parties embraced it as a possible way to help lower the state's stubborn unemployment rate.
U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, a steady gain that shows hiring held up during the tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff.
Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co. expects to hire the employees by 2016 as part of a $15 million expansion that includes building a 54,395-square-foot facility at its headquarters.
Indiana shed 9,800 private-sector jobs in November, mainly due to losses in the construction industry, according to state officials.
The Elkhart County Council on Saturday approved tax incentives for four companies seeking to expand in the county where the jobless rate topped out at nearly 19 percent in March 2009.
The Labor Department’s report Friday offered a mixed picture of the economy. Hiring remained steady during November in the face of looming tax increases. But the jobless rate slipped in part because more people stopped looking for work.
A deal struck 25 years ago brought Subaru-Isuzu to Indiana. Toyota followed in 1996, and Honda came in 2008. The three Japanese automakers now collectively employ 10,000 and support thousands more jobs at suppliers across the state.
The Indiana Business Research Center attributes the predicted slowdown during the next 30 years to an increasing number of baby boomers entering retirement and a cresting of the decades-long rise in female labor force participation.
President Barack Obama will face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt.
Ohio-based Vantiv Inc., which had more than 200 employees in Evansville just over a year ago, says it's going to reduce its work force to about 25 and close its call center in southwest Indiana.
The engine maker says that slowing demand led to the decision to scale back hours for the 350 workers at its Columbus Fuel Systems Plant. The new four-day workweek will continue indefinitely.
The nation’s jobless rate fell from 8.1 to a 44-month low of 7.8 percent in September, according to government data, as employers added 114,000 jobs. Wages rose over the month, and more people started looking for work.
Manitowoc Foodservice said it will eliminate 235 jobs with a Fort Wayne plant closure slated for April 30. The company gave no reason for its decision.
Indianapolis-based Crosspoint Solutions LLC, a manufacturer of electric auxiliary power units, plans to hire the workers by 2016 as part of a $935,000 expansion.
Auto-parts maker Gunite Corp. plans to move its manufacturing operations to Rockford, Ill., phasing out Elkhart workers beginning in late September.
The distribution center, which opened in 2002 near the Indianapolis International Airport, will close by the end of September, company officials said.
A survey of 1,123 manufacturing executives released last year found that 67 percent of companies had a moderate to severe shortage of available, qualified workers. The report estimated 600,000 jobs nationwide were going unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates.
The May jobless rate in Indiana was unchanged from April, although the state added 7,700 private-sector jobs last month, with gains in sectors including trade, transportation, utilities, and private educational and health services.
