Indiana’s unemployment rate for March was 3.6 percent, up 0.1 percent from February, but still below the national rate of 3.8 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The state said, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, that Indiana’s jobless rate, with the exception of October 2014, has been below the national figure for five years.
The monthly unemployment rate is a federal 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 6,769 in March when compared to February. This was a result of an increase of 2,634 unemployed residents and an increase of 4,135 employed residents, the state said.
Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.41 million, and the state’s 65.3 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 63 percent.
Private sector employment has grown by 38,100 through March.
The monthly increase is primarily due to gains in professional and business services (1,200), the leisure and hospitality (1,100) and the financial activities (1,000) sectors, the state said. Gains were partially offset by a loss in the mining and logging, IT and other services, sector.
Total private employment reached a preliminary record highpoint of 2,750,400, which is 18,300 above the December 2018 peak, the state said. The March 2019 peak, like all data within this report, is subject to monthly revisions and annual benchmarking.
