Indiana’s unemployment rate for August was 3.3%, which was below the national number of 3.7%.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, said the last time the state’s jobless rate was 3.3% was February 2018. The state’s jobless rate in July was 3.4%, which was a 0.1% drop from June.
The monthly jobless rate reflects the number of unemployed people seeking work within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
Indiana’s labor force had a net decrease of 2,135 over the previous month, the state said. This was a result of a decrease of 4,260 unemployed residents and an increase of 2,125 employed residents.
Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stood at 3.38 million in August. The state’s 64.6 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 63.2 percent.
The state said private sector employment grew by 23,000 over the year and has decreased by 2,100 over the previous month. The monthly decrease is primarily due to losses in the leisure and hospitality (-1,600) and the manufacturing (-1,500) sectors.
Losses were partially offset by gains in the professional and business services (900) and the financial activities (600) sectors, the state said. Total private employment stood at 2,739,000, which is 6,900 above the December 2018 peak.
Locally, unemployment rates in the Gary metro area was 4.1% in August, which was down from 4.6% in July and down from 4.6% in August 2018.
The Michigan City-LaPorte area jobless rate in August was 3.9%, down from 4.4% in July. The Michigan City-LaPorte area’s jobless rate in August 2018 was 4.2%.
Unemployment also dropped in the Elkhart-Goshen metro area in August. That region’s jobless rate for the month was 3%, which was down from 3.6% in July, but up from August 2018 when the rate was 2.9%.
