Indiana’s latest unemployment rate is continuing a five-year plus streak of running at or below the national rate.
The latest data released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development had the state’s January jobless rate at 3.5 percent, which was below the national jobless rate of 4 percent. The state said Indiana’s jobless rate has been running below the national rate every month for more than five years with the exception of October 2014 when the numbers were identical.
The state’s jobless rate in December was 3.6 percent while the U.S. jobless rate 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 7,613 in January when compared to December. The state said it was a result of an increase of 1,556 unemployed residents and an increase of 6,057 employed residents.
The state’s labor force, which includes those employed and those seeking employment, stood at 3.39 million in January. The state’s 65.1 percent labor force participation rate also is above the national rate of 63.2 percent.
