Unemployment Remains Flat in October
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in October at 3.5 percent. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development says the state added 3,400 private sector jobs last month with total private employment hitting a preliminary record high.
The preliminary October 2018 employment peak of 2,713,200 jobs is 24,300 more than the official record high set in December 2017. The DWD says the new record is subject to monthly revisions and annual benchmarking before being made official.
The majority of the gains in private sector employment came from the construction and private educational and health services sectors. The gains were offset by losses in sectors including leisure and hospitality, mining and logging, and IT.
The national unemployment rate also remained steady at 3.7 percent in October, which means Indiana’s unemployment has been equal to or lower than the national rate for more than five years. According to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Indiana’s labor force participation rate stayed flat at 65.1 percent, which is below the national rate of 62.9 percent.
Indiana continues to have the lowest unemployment of the surrounding states. Only Minnesota and Wisconsin continue to have lower unemployment rates at 2.8 and 3.0, respectively.
You can connect to more about Indiana’s unemployment rate from the Department of Workforce Development by clicking here.