After three months of stasis, Indiana unemployment rate dips to 4%
An estimated 134,842 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported Friday. That’s down from 137,857 in July.
An estimated 134,842 Hoosiers are currently unemployed and seeking jobs, the state reported Friday. That’s down from 137,857 in July.
Unemployment claims are increasingly returning to normal, but many other aspects of the job market haven’t yet done so. Hiring has slowed in the past two months, even as companies and other employers have posted a near-record number of open jobs.
Applications for jobless aid, which generally track the pace of layoffs, have fallen steadily since last spring as many businesses, struggling to fill jobs, have held onto their workers.
U.S. employers added just 194,000 jobs in September, a second straight tepid gain and evidence that the pandemic still has a grip on the economy with many companies struggling to fill millions of open jobs.
After hitting a pandemic low of 312,000 in early September, claims had risen three straight weeks, suggesting that the highly contagious delta variant was at least temporarily disrupting a recovery in jobs.
The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week swings, registered its sixth straight drop—to a pandemic low of 336,000.
State Department of Workforce Development officials explain what the end of federal pandemic unemployment benefits means for Hoosiers.
Even though hiring was relatively tepid in August, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.2%, from 5.4% in July.
In a desperation for hired hands, companies have loosened hiring restrictions on everything from age to level of experience. The changing standards may have helped boost hiring this summer, even as many companies complained they couldn’t find all the workers they need.
Jobless claims dropped by 14,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The weekly count has mostly fallen steadily since topping 900,000 in early January.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to its lowest level since mid-March 2020, when the coronavirus was beginning to slam the United States.
An estimated 137,857 Hoosiers were unemployed and seeking jobs in July, the state reported Friday. That’s was down from 138,192 in June.
The dwindling number of first-time jobless claims has coincided with the widespread administering of vaccines, which has led businesses to reopen or expand their hours and drawn consumers back to shops, restaurants, airports and entertainment venues.
The payments will continue because the state must give recipients a 30-day notice that they will stop, which extends past the scheduled Sept. 6 end of the federal pandemic unemployment programs, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said.
A decision issued Tuesday by the Indiana Court of Appeals is allowing the state to again stop the federal enhanced unemployment benefits that Gov. Eric Holcomb had tried to end in June because he thought the extra money encouraged workers to stay out of the job market.
Indiana has more than 17,000 pending appeals of unemployment-claim denials. Only California, Texas and Virginia—states with much larger populations—have more.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4% in another sign that the U.S. economy continues to bounce back with surprising vigor from last year’s coronavirus shutdown.
Unemployment claims remain high by historic levels: Before the pandemic slammed the United States in March 2020, they were coming in at around 220,000 a week.
Economists characterized last week’s increase as most likely a blip caused by some one-time factors and partly a result of the inevitable bumpiness in the week-to-week data.
State officials argued in their court filings Monday that a Marion County judge “abused” his discretion last month by ordering Indiana to resume participation in the benefit programs.