Hicks: Jobs Report Offers ‘Confident Assessment’
![Hicks: Jobs Report Offers ‘Confident Assessment’](https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/8729403_G.jpg)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowBall State University economist Mike Hicks says the September jobs report suggests most unemployed workers are finding new jobs quickly. He says the monthly numbers, which peg the unemployment rate steady at 5 percent, show a decrease of about 20,000 workers unemployed for longer than five weeks.
The federal government reports 156,000 net new jobs in September, with involuntary part-time employment dropping by roughly 150,000. That means the economy added more than 150,000 full-time jobs and saw a shift of another 150,000 from part-time to full-time.
Hicks says a loss in manufacturing and logistics jobs is "not yet deep enough for real worry." He says wages increased by half of a percent in September, and believes the report "should increase the probability of Federal Reserve action to tighten the money supply in December."
Indiana’s jobless rate remains below the national average, coming in a 4.5 percent in August, compared to 4.6 percent the previous month. The DWD says Indiana’s labor force grew by more than 3,500 in August.