Indiana's jobless rate in December was 3.6 percent, which was unchanged from November.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development, citing Labor Department data, said the state's December jobless rate remained lower than the national unemployment rate in December which was 3.9 percent.
The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 1,543 over the previous month. The state said this was a result of an increase of 83 unemployed residents and an increase of 1,460 employed residents.
Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stood at 3.40 million in December, the state said. Indiana’s 65.1 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 63.1 percent.
The state said private sector employment grew by 42,700 during the year and 12,200 over November's total. The monthly increase is primarily due to gains in the private educational and health services (4,200), construction (3,900) and the leisure and hospitality (1,500) sectors.
The state said total private employment reached a preliminary record high of 2,731,600, which is 42,700 above the official December 2017 peak.
The new December 2018 peak is subject to monthly revisions and annual benchmarking, the state said. Construction jobs continue to be at the highest level since April 2008.
