Indiana’s unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percentage point last month, to 3.7 percent — the highest the rate has been in more than two years.
A 3.7 percent unemployment rate for Indiana matches the national unemployment rate. That’s the first time the state rate hasn’t been lower than the overall U.S. rate in more than three and a half years.
An economic outlook delivered to state lawmakers this week projects employment growth will slow significantly in 2024 and forecasts job losses in the two years after that. Still, that same forecaster a year ago predicted Indiana would see jobs increase by just 0.4 percent this year; job growth has actually been around 2 percent for the Hoosier State.
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Indiana’s labor force participation rate — a key number that measures both people with a job and those actively looking for work — halted a three-month decline in November, holding steady at 63.3 percent, better than the national rate.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.