Indiana’s unemployment rate dropped in August for the first time in five months.
However, the state’s private sector lost jobs for the first time in 11 months.
Indiana’s unemployment rate fell one tenth of one percent to 5.8% – a nearly two percent drop from just a year ago.
And in that time, 56,000 private sector jobs have been added.
But led by a significant decline in the private educational and health services sector, the private sector lost 26 hundred jobs in August.
That’s despite continued job growth in the manufacturing sector, which has added more than 20 thousand jobs since last August.
Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Scott Sanders notes that the gains of the last year – which are among the best in the country – puts Indiana well ahead of its neighbors in the Midwest. Only Ohio has a lower unemployment rate.
