Employers added fewer workers than predicted in April, but the jobless rate unexpectedly fell as workers left the labor force. The participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age people in the labor force, fell to it lowest mark since 1981.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week by the most in nearly a year. But the four-week average, a less volatile measure, ticked up.
Rushville-based Barada Associates Inc. specializes in helping business clients make good hiring decisions—services that have become more popular as companies find themselves inundated with eager applicants looking for work.
Indiana’s jobless rate is the lowest it’s been since December 2008 and matches the national jobless rate for March, also at 8.2 percent.
Applications have started to tick up in recent weeks after months of steady declines. And employers added only 120,000 jobs in March — half the pace of the previous three months.
Nearly two-thirds of Hoosier business owners in a new survey said they are optimistic or moderately optimistic about the Indiana economy over the next six months. But high gas prices may dampen the enthusiasm.
The job market slowed in March as companies hit the brakes on hiring amid uncertainty about the economy's growth prospects. The unemployment rate fell slightly, but mostly because more Americans stopped looking for work.
Bureau of Labor Statistics revises numbers, but region is still 30,000 jobs short of pre-recession peak.
Indiana’s unemployment rate took a sizable dip in February, falling to 8.4 percent, as new jobless claims hit a seven-year low.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment benefit applications fell by 5,000, to a seasonally adjusted 359,000. That's the smallest number of applicants since April 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, declined to 365,000.
About 10,000 Indiana residents who have been unemployed for more than 79 weeks will no longer be eligible to receive 20 more weeks of extended federal benefits after April 15 because the state's three-month average unemployment rate is no longer 110 percent higher than it was three years ago.
Indiana’s unemployment rate fell to 8.7 percent in January as the state added 13,000 private-sector jobs, the largest monthly increase in more than a year.
U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs in February to complete three of the best months of hiring since the recession ended.
Employers went on a hiring spree in January and drove down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent, its lowest point in nearly three years.
Indiana added 12,000 private-sector jobs in December, but the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 9 percent as a huge wave of Hoosiers entered the labor force.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week after three weeks of declines. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped for the fourth straight week.
The state’s unemployment rate held steady in November at a seasonally adjusted 9 percent, slightly higher than the overall U.S. rate that dropped to 8.6 percent, the state’s Department of Workforce Development said Tuesday morning.
The number of people applying for benefits fell last week to 366,000, the fewest since May 2008. If the number stayed that low consistently, it would likely signal that hiring is strong enough for unemployment rates to fall.
